Princess
by ArjunaRose
Summary: Jamie Stronghold, Will Stronghold's younger twin sister, is attending her first year at Sky High. How will she go at a school where her powers make many people fear her? Follow her journey in coping with her powers long with the stigma that it brings. Warren Peace/OC (Hiatus)
1. Prologue

**A/N:** Hi all. I know I currently have two stories already being written, but my DVD player broke so I've only had my ipad to watch things on lately. Out of boredom I watched Sky High again... and again and again, causing this story to pop into my head. I've written it all down in my notebook except for the ending, so I'm going to be typing up the story and editing it on my iPad. This may take a while and I know there's going to be a bunch of spelling and grammar mistakes, but I can't really spell check on here and my keyboard keeps on missing letters so it's not going to be perfect. I'll try my hardest to edit it on here, but until my laptop and DVD player gets fixed I'm afraid you're stuck with it. I hope you enjoy this story though.

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 **Prologue**

In a world full of superheroes, there are two that stand above the rest, the Commander and Jetstream. His super-strength makes him pretty much indestructible and she has the power of supersonic flight, along with the total mastery of unarmed combat. By day, they live as Steve and Josie Stronghold, the top real estate agents in the metropolis of Maxville. But whenever duty calls, they are the Commander and Jetstream. My brother and I have our own names for them, Mom and Dad. While having Superheroes as parents is cool and all, living up to the family name means that we are supposed to save the world some day. There are just a few small problems with that. My older-by-an-hour twin brother, Will Stronghold, hasn't recieved his powers yet and that may be my fault.

You see, I have the power to take other Super's powers away, but not use them. A power I apparently inherited from my grandmother on Mom's side. A simple touch can render a Super powerless for over an hour. While it used to radiate over my entire body, I have learnt to anchor it to a specific location. My hands for a key example. I tend to keep my powers anchored to them most of the time, which is the reason for the white leather gloves I always wear. Unfortunately they are only a semi-recent addition to my pastel wardrobe. We never really knew exactly when my powers activated since they seem to have always been present. Even when pregnant with us, our mother experienced 'power failure' more often than usual in a Super pregnancy.

At first I believed, along with the rest of my family, that Will was a late bloomer. He even managed to fool me for over two months that he received his power. I figured at first that his avoiding physical contact with me was simply out of fear of losing his power like our dad. But when he continued to do so, I grew sad and withdrawn. Will noticed and confronted me one day to confess he was avoiding me to keep his secret, since I would be able to tell the instant we touched that he has no powers, but he hated seeing me like this and knowing he was the cause of it. Although I forgave him and started to cover for him whenever Dad wanted to do something with him that involved super-strength, even though it got me grounded more often than not, I couldn't rid myself of the thought that it was my fault and I had somehow stolen his powers from him without knowing. That thought has stuck with me and weighed down my conscience ever since.

I, Jamie Stronghold, have ruined my closest friend, my own twin's life, which I dearly wish I could take back.

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 **A/N:** Thanks for reading. I'm already typing up the first chapter and I'm half way through it. Shouldn't be too far along. :)


	2. Not The Perfect Family

**A/N:** It's done! Chapter one is written up and ready to post. I hope you enjoy it. I haven't fully developed the characters unfortunately, mainly due to this being a quick project, but I hope there is enough there for you to get the general gist of them.

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 **Chapter One** \- Not The Perfect Family

Tomorrow. Tomorrow is the day I've been dreading for the past two years, ever since I found out I am to go to Sky High, the school my parents both went to, and very soon Will and I will attend. Too soon in my opinion.

It's nearing dinner time at the Stronghold residence and to anyone else it may seem like there isn't a worry in the world for any of it's inhabitance. That's not the case however. If it was then you wouldn't find me sulking in my brother's room, mumbling to the room's owner about the injustices of my teenage life.

"It's so stupid. For one moment I lose control of my powers, accidentally sending out a weak, short distance, pulse, and I'm in the dog house. It only neutralised his powers for a few minutes!" I rant to Will as I pace around his weights in the middle of the room, wearing out my white converses and his carpet.

"He was taken off guard, Jamie. You know how Dad is when it comes to his powers." Will tries to defend our dad, sitting in the middle of his bed as he watches me follow the same path I always do when venting to him in his room.

"It frustrates me so much, Will, that he can't treat me the same as he does you. He's proud of you Will! Whereas he just fears me and my out of control powers." I stop to emphasise a point before changing directions and pacing again.

"Jamie." He calls, but I don't stop my frantic pacing. "Jamie!" I look at him and slow down a little. "Jamie, sit down. You're making me dizzy." Will stands up, grabbing my arm thats covered in my favorite white leather jacket I'm wearing over an old, worn out baby blue shirt that read the word 'Princess' in bold white writing, and pulls me to sit down with him on the bed. I sigh and start fighting with my custom made white gloves that I hate always having to wear. He grabs my hands and stops their movement. "Dad isnt afraid of you, Jamie. He just doesn't know how to handle your powers." He tells me, staring directly into our matching blue eyes with sincerity. I look down and let my tense muscles relax.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. It just makes me feel like he doesn't love me." I confess.

"That's silly. Of course Dad loves you. You're his only Daughter." He says, pulling me into a hug. I rest my head on his shoulder, relaxing in the small amount of warmth he released, not wanting to discuss the matter further and instead choosing to believe my brothers words.

"Will, Jamie! Dinner's ready!" We hear our mother call from downstairs. It's then that Will's stomach makes itself known with a loud grumble causing us to laugh and run downstairs.

I take my usual seat at the table on my mother's left side, opposite Will. Our Dad at the other head of the table. It' still tense between Dad and I, I notice, as when we both go to grab the sauce bottle he flinches away, even though my gloves are still perfectly covering the entirety of my hand. I frown and pass the bottle over to him where he proceeded to ignore it. Not feeling hungry anymore, I wait a few minutes before excusing myself. I'm not sure if anyone really noticed the lack of food eaten from my plate, but I shove it in the disposal and wash up my plate just in case, not wanting to worry anyone.

Only an hour or so after dinner, my dad is searching the house for Will, insisting on taking him out for a friendly game of Baseball. Except his version of Baseball involves a large beam as the bat and massive pieces of scrap metal as the balls. Upon hearing Will's lame attempts at trying to get out of the game and failing, I close my book, marking the page and go to his defence as per usual.

"Will can't play, Dad. He's helping me pack for school tomorrow." It's the first thing that pops into my head and I run with it. Will quickly following my lead.

"Yeah. Sorry, Dad. I promised Jamie I'd help her." He says, walking over to me. Dad seems to be buying it when our Mom unfortunately butts in.

"I already helped you pack earlier. Jamie, what's this about?" She asks upon entering the room, giving Will and I a worried look. I share a slightly frantic look with Will, hoping he can think of something before we have to resort to our last option. But he looks panicked and my mind is blank as well. Giving up, I pray that my acting skills are up to the job.

"Thanks for covering for me Will, but they aren't buying it." Will's reaction thankfully works well with what I said, even though it's really him worrying for me. Mom walks up to me, placing a comforting hand on my shoulder while Dad watches on, staring at me in confusion. I take a deep breath before I say my next words, bracing for a bad reaction. "Will can't play with you, Dad, because I lost control again this morning and I dont know how long it'll last. He's only just starting to get his power back. I'm sorry, Will." I cast my eyes downward, knowing Mom will be able to tell if she see's them.

"Again?!" Dad yells, staring down at me in disappointment. "You're grounded for a week." His words not shocking me at all. Mom on the other hand, didn't agree.

"Honey, that's unnecessary." But he doesn't listen.

"No, Josie. This is the second time today it's happened and until she learns how to control herself, she's not going out where she may endanger others." Although expected, his words still hurt.

"Steve!" Mom calls and goes to say something else, but I interrupt her before he can start.

"It's alright, Mom. I'm going to bed." With that I turn around and leave the room, practically running up the stairs two at a time. My eyes slightly sting as I hold back the tears.

After lying on my bed, staring up at the ceiling for god knows how long, I hear a knock at my door. I sit up and look towards the door where Will is sticking his head through the opening. "Can I come in?" When I nod my head my long, wavy hair falls into my eyes and I just leave it there so it covers part of my face at the moment since I don't want him to know I've been holding back tears. Will hesitantly walks in, closing my door behind him and sitting on the bed next to me. "You didn't have to do that, Jamie."

"Yes I did. I don't want to mess up the relationship you have with Dad." I explain, leaving out my beliefs that it's my fault he doesn't have his powers in the first place. It's the least I can do to keep their happy relationship together. Will sighs in exasperation.

"Jamie." He starts, but I don't let him continue.

"Not right now, Will. I just want to get out of here for a little bit. You won't tell them if I do, will you?" I ask, already standing up and grabbing my wallet. Will looks unsure at first, but I giving a pleading look and he caves. "Thanks, Will." I give him a hug before opening my window and climbing out of it, glad there's a tree near the part of roof where Will, Layla and I spend a fair amount of time on. Once I reach the ground, I grab my bike and head out to the one place away from home where I can relax.

Soft, oriental music plays in the background as I enter the restaurant. Anna, a girl who has been my waiter a few times, greets me as I walk into the Paper Lantern. "Hi, Jamie. Where do you want to sit tonight?" She asks greeting me with her usual, dimpled smile.

"Anywhere quiet really."

"I'm afraid all my tables are filled so I won't be the one waitering you tonight." She gives me a genuinely sincere look before leading me to a fairly dark area where no one else sat. I sit down at the booth and rest my head on the table, listening to the calming sounds of music and a low rumble of indistinguishable chatter. Closing my eyes, I think about my Dad's reaction. The same reaction he always has. I don't know when it all started, but it's longer than I like to admit. Although I'm not entirely sure it's always been this way. I still have memories of when he used to pick me up and lift me off the ground, pretending I'm flying. That was before I grew afraid of heights. My thought are interrupted by a male voice near by.

"What can I get you?" I look up to discover the source of the voice is a young man, not much older than myself, with his long hair tied back for work, showing off his handsome facial structure. His work shirt also giving me ample amount of well muscled arm to ogle. He looks at me amused and I'm confused at first, until I see him glance down and I follow his eyes to see that I'm still wearing my baby blue shirt reserved for at home only. I blush and cover up the text by zipping up my jacket quickly. He looks back up at me expectantly and it takes me a while to remember he just asked me a question.

Blushing, I sit up right in the chair and quickly relay my usual order to him, feeling strange since I haven't had to in a long time with Anna knowing it off by heart. "Three servings of Honey Chicken with a side of Special Fried Rice." He looks at me strangely, then to the seat across from me.

"You expecting anyone else?" He asks, as though to rationalise my strange order. I shake my head. "You are aware we serve more of that stuff than anywhere else in one serving, right?" His eyes narrow and he raises one eyebrow, a feet that I'm completely jealous of, as I nod. "Alright. No puking near here then." With that he leaves and I feel as though I'm melting. I swear, that guy is far too handsome for his own good. I watch as he goes into the back and relays the order to the cooks and Anna, who laughs, knowing my strange order off by heart now. I silently laugh along with her at seeing the guy's reaction. I think he sees as well because when he looks over to me again I can actually hear Anna's laughter grow louder. Hearing her lightens my mood. It takes me a while to realise my attempts to scratch the back of my hand through gloves are futile. Giving up, I decide to take them off since I'm sure I'm not going to bump into any Supers any time soon, since I never have here before, and I'm sick of always having to wear them for everything. Taking them off, I lay them to the side and rest my head on my hands, glad for the skin contact and the warm feeling from the metal of my ring against me.

To be honest, even though I love the food and atmosphere of this restaurant, Anna is the main reason I love this place so much. She may be five years older than me, but her sarcastic nature and understanding ways are what cheer me up the most when I come here. A while ago we traded emails so I know her roster off by heart now and try to come here, which I try to make sure is only on the time and days she works. This is actually the first time anyone else has taken my order and it just so happens to be the hottest guy I've ever seen. Thank you, Anna.

I'm not ashamed to say that my mind is currently filled with the image of my new found eye candy. But I am ashamed to admit that I am too preoccupied with the mental image of him that I don't notice him walking up to me with my order until he clears his throat to make himself known. Blushing, I reach out to take a plate from him in a rush to get him to stop staring a me with that amused look, when our fingers touch. My mind is bombarded with an influx of knowledge, causing me to flinch back. 'Pyrokinesis, also known as a form of fire manipulation. Able to summon fire at will, mostly originating from his hands. This also includes releasing heat, light and manipulating the shape of fire. Oxygen necessary for the fire to burn. Also holds strong thermal and fire resistance.' There is a loud noise from the clattering of the plates as they hit the table, thankfully not breaking, that resounds throughout the restaurant. I look up in shock at his face to see it is equally in as much shock as mine. We just stay there, staring at each other in silence, until the realisation of what I just did dawns on me. My eyes open wider and I start to stutter an apology to him which breaks him out of his current state.

"I. I'm so sorry! I didn't mean for that to happen." I frantically say as I start to pick up some of the mess the spill created. He bends down and grabs my hand to stop my movements causing me to flinch again. He frowns at this, but let go of my hand and starts cleaning up the mess himself, moving it all onto his cleaning rag.

"Calm down." He says as he sees me continue to panic and notices all the stares they are receiving. "It was an accident. Don't worry." His words startle me.

"You're not mad?" I ask in confusion, watching him clean up the mess I made, thankful that most people have stopped paying attention to us now.

"A little annoyed, but not mad, no." He confesses.

"I'm still sorry. I didn't think I was going to come into contact with any Supers here so I took off my gloves." As I say this I reach over to my gloves and shove them back on. He glances at them in mild curiosity before looking away again and finishing up with the cleaning. He seems to be getting irritated with my continuous apologising.

"Look, its fine. Just tell me how long it will last." He says, picking up the rag and standing up straight.

"Up to an hour. It should start coming back to you slowly after half an hour or so since I didn't put any power into it." I explain, playing with my gloves as he looks at me as though trying to figure something out. He then frowns.

"Are you alright?" He asks, probably noticing my fidgeting and avoidance of meeting his eyes.

"Ah, yeah. I'm just used to people getting angry or scared when they realise I can take away the one thing most super's consider unique about themselves." Realisation dawns on him and he goes into the classical, 'Ah, I see' stance. This guy is truly confusing me as I'm sure I am doing the same to him.

"Enjoy your meal. Just no throwing up, Princess." His words have my cheeks turning crimson in embarrassment as he walks away with a slight smirk on his face.

By the time he comes back I have already managed to devour half of my food and it doesn't surprise me much when his first words are "How are you not sick?". I laugh at the expression he makes and put my chopstick down for a moment.

"Never underestimate the love I have for my comfort food. Especially when it comes from here." After staring at me for a few seconds he seems to shrug whatever thoughts he had off.

"Here, Anna said it was your favorite." He says, placing a strange purple drink on the table in front of me and all I can do is stare at it in wonder. This wan't. It couldn't be.

"Anna's famous Purple Mystery!" I snatch the drink from the table and take a large gulp from it. The taste making my mouth water and my eyes close in bliss as I place the glass back down. "She only makes me this when she's in a really good mood." I explain to him upon seeing his slightly weirded out expression.

"I know she has a habit of making strange concoctions, but I had no idea anyone liked them." He explains, staring at me as though I'm something he's never seen before.

"Um... Can I please talk to you for a minute?" I say, unsure of myself.

"I guess I can spare that long." He says after looking around quickly, probably to see if any of his tables need anything.

"So you're a Pyro, right?"

He raises his eyebrow in question. "Is that a part of your power?" He answers with a question.

I nod and continue. "Do you go to Sky High?" His face lights up in understanding upon my words.

"Yeah, I'm a Senior. I take it you want to know about it?" The faintest of smiles graces his face causing me to smile as well.

"Just one thing. It's not actually in the Sky is it?" I ask, a little bit of fear colouring my voice.

"Afraid so." I pale at his confirmation. "Afraid of heights?" I just nod my head slightly and he lets out a small laugh, distracting me a little. "Good luck." He says, standing up.

"Wait. What's your name?"

He frowns a little at this, but answers nonetheless. "Warren."

My eyes widen slightly at this, upon realising that I just spent the last few minutes talking to Barron Battle's son. No. Not only talking to him, but developing a crush on him too. His eyes narrow at the expression on my face. That is, until I blush and give him a small smile. "Jamie." I say, omitting my last name in hopes that he doesn't realise I'm the Commander's daughter. After all, it would be bad if he found out the daughter of the Commander and Jetstream is crushing on him.

His face relaxes. "See you around, Princess." He walks away with, what I think is a grin. Oh I so hope that nickname doesn't stick. Then again, it isn't the worst nickname in the world.

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 **A/N:** There it is people. The first chapter of this story. I hope you enjoyed it and please let me know what you think in a review. :)


	3. Why 'Sky' High?

**A/N:** Here it is. The second chapter. I hope you enjoy it.

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 **Chapter Two** \- Why 'Sky' High?

The thing I've dreaded for years has finally occurred. Last night, as I slept, tomorrow turned into today, bringing with it, my first day of Sky High. Sure, I should be excited for this day, where I'll finally attend a school with other supers, just like myself; anyone else would be... apart from my brother, Will. The thought making me cringe a little as I stare up at the ceiling from my bed where I lay, fully dressed and ready to go, but refusing until I have no choice. I know how people will react when they discover my power. The same way everyone else, apart from my mom... and Warren Peace surprisingly, a part of my mind supplies, causing my heart rate to pick up. To be honest, even my own twin tried to avoid me once he found out, scared that I might take away his power before he even received it. Unfortunately for him it was too late, but I didn't need to let him know that. Mom sorted everything out eventually, but it still left a lasting impression.

"Will?" My dad's voice, calling for Will, snaps me out of my trance. I glance at the clock on my bedside table to see that I can't put it off for any longer. Closing my eyes, I take a deep breath and brace myself for the day ahead. I grab my backpack, along with my jacket and beanie, and go to head downstairs. As I turn down the hall, I almost collide with Dad, but he narrowly avoids me, barely missing the photo frames on the wall.

"Wow! That was a close one." Dad says, stepping away from me. I roll my eyes, used to his antics now, and walk down the stairs.

I'm greeted by Layla, Will's best friend and by extension mine, and Mom, who hands me a plate of breakfast and glass of fresh juice. I take a seat next to Layla and start eating my bacon. Layla gives me a strange look, but doesn't answer when I ask what it is, so I shrug it off.

"He's on his way." Dad says as he walks into the kitchen, past Mom and goes to sit at the table with us. "Oh, hi Layla." He greets, taking a seat and subconsciously moving it away from me. I'm not entirely sure he notices, but I do. I look away and focus on finishing my eggs.

"Good morning, Commander." We all look over to Layla and see her motioning for his missing glasses.

"Oh, thanks Layla." Dad pulls out his fake glasses and places them on before grabbing today's newspaper and turning his back to me. Before I can let it get to me, Mom speaks up.

"I can't believe you, Jamie and Will are starting high school. It seems like just yesterday you three were swimming naked in the kiddie pool!."

At that moment, Will walks into the room and both of us yell "Mom!" in sync at her for embarrassing us in front of Layla. To think I thought she got it all out of her during middle school. Apparently not.

"Hi, Layla" Will greets her as he goes to sit down opposite me, forgoing breakfast and just drinking juice instead.

It's a this moment when the phone starts to ring. I notice Mom walking over to our main phone when I see Dad reaching for the 'Other' phone in the corner of my eye. The mood suddenly turns serious as he answers the phone. We watch and listen intently to them as they receive their orders. "There's trouble downtown. Big trouble, downtown." Dad emphasises, hanging up the phone. They have to leave and for one quick moment, I think the embarrassment is over, but it turns out I'm not so lucky.

"Oh shoot, and I really wanted to see Will and Jamie off to the bus. I remember their first day of preschool, they wouldn't let go of my legs!"

"Mom!" We call in unison once more, showing off our twinness... is that even a word? She stops and walks over to give me a hug and Will a kiss on his cheek before Dad calls her over.

"Oh, Will, a reminder. A lot of the kids at Sky High will only have one superhero parent, not two." He puts two fingers up to show a point. "So take it easy on them, huh?"

"Oh, Dad, not to worry. We'll keep it low key." Will promises. So low key they won't even know he has powers. The thought upsetting me.

"Steve!" Our mom calls.

"Gotta go. Jamie, be careful out there today. Don't let your powers loose again, like you do with Will all the time." I look down at my empty plate in shame as he walks away.

I quickly stand up and go wash up my plate and glass before Will or Layla can say anything. Will, instead, chooses to go turn on the television, flipping to the WXY News to watch their parents deal with a giant robot attacking the city. Checking the time, I realise that we have to get going or else we'll miss the bus. So I grab both our bags, throwing Will's his and basically pushing both of them out the door, locking it behind me. Catching up to Will and Layla, I hear the beginning of Layla's speech.

"Now, I know it's just our first day, but I already can't wait to graduate and start saving mankind... and womankind." She gushes making me laugh, but I had to ad to it.

"Don't forget the animals." Layla looks affronted at even the thought that I could think she would ever forget about the animals.

"And the rainforest." Will chimes in.

"Of corse!" She exclaims, as we pass by Miss. Kabbitch's house who greets us on our way. "I just feel really good about this year." Layla's positive attitude bringing up mine. Maybe things won't be so bad after all.

"Yeah, should be great." I hear Will say with a hint of sarcasm. I rub his shoulder to help ease his nerves, which must be even more on edge than mine, with his power problems, or lack there of. He exhales as the bus shows up. As we board the bus, Will casually asks the bus driver something any person with a sense of self preservation would have asked; and if Will didn't, I would have, but the bus driver didn't seem to think the same way.

"Is this the bus to Sky High?"

"What, are you crazy!?" The man pulls a lever, forcing the doors shut behind me and if it wasn't for the fast reflexes Will and I inherited from our mom, my bag would have been trapped by it. "I guess you want every Supervillain in the neighbourhood to know we're here?" He demands, staring at the three of us.

"No. No, sorry." Will stutters out an apology and goes to take a seat when the man stops him again by holding his hand out in front of Will.

"What's your name, freshman?" I shake my head at Will, hoping for him to notice, for I know the reaction we will most likely get when he hears, but luck is not on my side as he doesn't notice.

"Will Stronghold." I brace myself as I hear the bus driver audibly gulp and look to me then Will again.

"Will and Jamie Stronghold, the son and daughter of the Commander and Jetstream?" The awe in his voice is almost tangible. Will simply nods, looking unsure of what to do or say next. I couldn't say I knew either, for all I would have done is walk past him, trying my best to ignore everyone. But as luck would have it, I'm currently stuck behind Layla, Will and this bus driver who suddenly stands up and makes more of a spectacle of everything.

"Everyone! It's Will and Jamie Stronghold, the son and daughter of the Commander and Jetstream!" He grabs me from behind Layla, almost knocking her down in the process, and pulls me to Will's side. Everyone looks up, I'm pretty sure they can all make out the irritation on my face at this entire fiasco. "My name's Ron Wilson, Sky High bus driver."

I stop paying attention as I realise he's starting to suck up to us and only bring my attention back when I notice Will taking a seat next to Zack, our friend from middle school. I don't mind Zack that much. He's just not exactly my type, which is what I told him when he asked me out at the end of last year. I still find him to be a great and funny guy, but I would just love it if he could find someone else to crush on, since it made me uncomfortable to be around him.

"Hey, Will, Layla." He says, high fiving my brother. Zack may have omitted me at first, but I knew it was coming. "Hi, Jamie." I nod my head in acknowledgment, but not encouraging his advances. Will and I share a knowing look before he starts distracting Zack, letting me pass. Sometimes being able to read people easily has it's downfalls.

Walking past the gang, I look around and see an empty seat next to a girl dressed in pastel colours, not unlike myself. Smiling, I step up to her to gain her attention as the bus starts moving. "Hi, can I please sit next you you?" She looks up and smiles, quickly moving over to the window side to make room for me. It's then that I notice how gorgeous she looks, with her classical straight blond hair, blue eyes and petite body, unlike my wavy brown hair, blue eyes and average body. I'm not calling myself ugly or anything, but when held up against her, I wouldn't stand a chance. But even with all of this, she still sent me a large smile and started chatting away.

"Hi. I'm Luci Remirez. I saw what happened at the front of the bus. Does that always happen?"

"Jamie, as Ron just announced to the entire neighbourhood, and yeah. It's happened a few times. You would think people would get over it, but apparently not. The whole Hero-worship thing is getting old." I roll my eyes, which gains a laugh from Luci.

"I bet." With that I start to think that maybe, just maybe, I may have gained my first friend at Sky High. But I'll reserve judgement until after she finds out there's a high chance I'll accidentally take away her power.

The bus comes to a dramatic stop, causing everyone to lunge forward, some getting hurt in the process. "Sorry!" Ron calls out as a boy jumps on board and takes a seat. Luci and I start talking again, ignoring Ron's dramatic call of, "Next stop, Sky High!". The bus starts moving once more, but I notice Layla looking around, slightly worried.

"Where are we?" She says, asking anyone who will answer her. But no one does. Instead, Luci and a few others look outside, only to notice roadwork signs. I feel Luci tugging on my jacket to gain my attention, then pointing ahead when I give it to her. There, directly in front of the bus, is the end of a bridge and we are heading directly for it. All of a sudden a bar come out in front of us and seat belts strap themselves around us. Luci lets out a squeal in surprise while I gasp, unable to do much more, frozen in fear, until we are plummeting off the bridge where I let out a ear splitting scream. A few people struggle against their bindings while the rest of us just cling onto the bar in front of us. I'm going to die on a bus full of screaming teenagers and I haven't even had my first kiss. Maybe I should have taken Zack up on his offer. I shake off the thought, realising that I would rather not kiss anyone then give it away to someone I don't share romantic feelings for. If only Mom or Dad, or really anyone, could save us now. But it would be just our luck for a bus full of Super children to plummet to their death while a bus full of non-supers would probably be saved instantly. Honestly, I'm screaming so much with my eyes clamped shut, that I don't even notice we are flying instead of falling now. To be fair though, I'm not sure many of us do. But I do notice and feel a particularly rough jolt at some point, although I don't look up or open my eyes to find out what it is until I feel someone shaking me and calling my name. Ever so slowly, I open my eyes to look around, only to find that people are calmly walking past me and off of the 'bus'. Without thinking, I jump up and rush off of the thing, pushing past people as I go. Once off, I collapse onto the ground. A sick feeling rushing through me as I try to hold it back. I'm so relieved to be off that evil contraption, that I don't notice I left I bag on there until it suddenly appears right by my side on the ground. Shocked, I look up to find Luci standing over me with a worried expression.

"Thanks." I say, shakily standing up and trying to ignore the amused looks I'm receiving.

"Anytime." She smiles at me and I give her the best smile I can manage at the moment. Luci stays by my side as we walk to catch up to everyone else from our... I refuse to call it a bus anymore. That title is reserved for the ones that travel solely on the ground. Looking up at the sky, to make myself feel as though I'm not god knows how many feet above the actual ground, I see two girls fly over our heads. I feels dizzy just watching them. How anyone could stand heights and flying I have no idea. I'm not meant to be more than one foot off the ground at any time. I drop my gaze back down to my feet and continue to follow everyone else, once looking up at an entire cheer squad made out of one girl when Luci points them out to me.

A sudden strong gust of wind and I'm being pushed into everyone else, landing in between Will and Zack. He grins down at me, but I just try to keep my skirt held down. Finally the gust relents, leaving a chubby guy in front of us. "Your attention please."

I then notice another boy stretching beyond belief and landing next to him. "I'm Lash. This is Speed. And as representatives of the Sky High welcoming committee..." He leaves the sentence hanging for his friend to pick up as he stretches out his hand in front of the group.

"We'd be happy to collect that fifteen dollar New Student Fee." The smirk he wears not hiding the fact that it's a scam very well. Someone makes a comment to them that I don't bother listening to and instead choose to listen to a stray comment Luci makes.

"Lash is kind of cute." Her words make me chuckle a little, but I don't say anything, letting her think what she wants.

"Okay, guys. Very funny. I'll take over from here." A brunette covered in pink says, walking up to our group. The two go away, racing each other up the stairs. "Hey, everybody. I'm Gwen Grayson, your student body president. I know you're all going to love it here at Sky High. I know I have. I've just had the greatest experience having the greatest friends, but there are a few rules that I want you to know. First..." Gwen continues her speech finishing with "And if you just follow those few simple rules, I promise you will not fall off the school." After that she leads us into the school where we each receive our nametags and then shows us to the gym, leaving us there.

Luci and I follow behind the group, as she tries to whisper to me. I say tries, because I'm pretty sure some of the others can still hear her. "So, do you know what happens now? You're third generation aren't you?".

"Honestly, all I know is that we're going to be separated into two classes. Hero and Sidekick. How? I have no idea. Mom and Dad wanted to keep it this big secret for us to discover." I explain to her as she looks around the Gym in curiosity and fascination. Upon hearing Luci gasp, I turn around to find her watching a flying ball of light, speed over our heads, many of us ducking out of it's way, and fly over to a podium in front of the group, transforming into a woman as it lands.

"Good morning. I am Principal Powers. On behalf of all the faculty and staff, Welcome to Sky High!" She greets, with her arms open wide.

"Yeah!" Zack boisterously shouts, interrupting her and receiving an amused, yet disapproving look from the Principal, making him quiet down a little.

"In a few moments you'll go through Power Placement and your own heroic journey will begin. You have all been chosen for Sky High because you are all special in your own way. All of you will form your own goals. For now, good deeds and good luck. Let the adventure begin. Comets Away!" With that she transforms back into her ball of light and flies away. Just seeing her do so makes me feel ill, so I look down at the ground to stop it. What's with this school having so many flyers in some way or another?

As I stare at the floor I hear a strange noise behind me. Turning around, I spot a man standing on a platform, holding a clipboard and wearing sports attire. Gym teacher, my mind suplies me. "Alright, listen up!" He calls, gaining the attention of the few who haven't spun around to face him yet. "My name is Coach Boomer. You may know me as 'Sonic Boom'. You may not." From the awed expression on Luci's face that I see in the corner of my eye, I gather she does. "Here's how Power Placement is gonna work. You will step up here and show me your power. Yes, you will do so in front of the entire class."

Oh no. The sick feeling returns and I stop focusing on his words, too scared of what is to come. What if Luci freaks out when she finds out I can possibly lose control of my powers and take hers away at a moments notice? Only one person out of four hasn't freaked out so far when they found out. That's not exactly a great track record! I'm so distracted by my panicking that I'm only brought out of it when Coach Boomer 'boom's' at us.

"Yes, Coach Boomer!" I yell with everyone else even though I'm not sure as to what exactly I'm agreeing to. I just pray that I'm not first up, or ever really. Thankfully I'm not and I watch as person after person goes up and is sorted. By the time the lunch bell rings, four Heroes and five Sidekicks have been sorted, including Zack and surprisingly Layla, who refused to demonstrate her powers.

I'm relieved at first, but that feeling quickly dissipates upon hearing Coach Boomer saying my brother will be next. As we leave the gym and head off to the cafeteria, I wait up for Will and his friends, then embrace him in a hug to help calm his nerves, ignoring all the stares we are receiving. He seems to relax a little at this, so I leave with Luci to let him be with his friends.

Walking into the cafeteria, I'm already a little annoyed at everyones staring, but Luci's amusement towards it distracts me. That is, until two boys walk up to us in the cafeteria line and start flirting with me. It feels odd, I've only ever been hit on by Zack and he certainly never brought up my parents while doing so. Thankfully, with help from Luci, we manage to get them to leave me alone. But it's not the end of it. After we receive our food and start looking around for a place to sit, people all over the place start asking us to sit with them upon sighting my nametag. I'm so frustrated, that by the time we manage to find a seat with three boys who have already managed to be sorted into the Hero class, I slam down my tray and tear off my nametag. Balling it up, I throw it at the nearest trash can, ignoring the fact that it misses terribly. At the confused looks my actions receive, Luci explains the situation. By the end of it, they are all laughing their heads off and I eventually join in, relieved it's over for now.

"Looks like your brother is having just as hard'a time." Luke, the guy with acid spit sitting next to me, says, pointing in their direction.

Looking over, I spot Will sitting with Zack, Layla and two others I remember being sorted into Sidekick class. I watch as he turns around and glances behind him, then curling in on himself a little as he turns back around. Following his lead, I glance over to the table behind them only to see a lone figure sitting there. I don't recognise him at first, with his hair out. But that face is burnt into my memory and I snort in laughter upon realising what is going on.

"I see Warren has managed to find my brother already. I just hope Will doesn't do anything stupid." I comment even though I know it's not possible. Will is bound to mess up somehow. It's just a matter of when.

A choking noise gains my attention and I look back to our table to see Charlie, the shapeshifter, choking on his drink. Giving him a few seconds to clear his throat, Charlie suddenly exclaims. "Warren? As in Warren Peace?!" His eyes are wide as he turns his head to where I was staring before.

"The one and only." I say, nodding my head.

"I think he's kinda cute" Luci says, resting her head in her arms. A dreamy look in her eyes. I laugh at her for a moment until Alex Hamilton, a boy with the power to control gravity, randomly yells at us.

"You're crazy! He's evil!" Luci and I glare at him in response.

"I believe the world you're looking for, Hamilton, is 'Bad Boy'." I burst out laughing and Luci grins at me.

"You're insane, woman." Alex says, grabbing his tray and walking away. We both roll our eyes at him. Charlie gives us an apologetic look before following Alex. Surprisingly though, Luke stays sitting with us.

"Well that was awkward." He says, making Luci start laughing. I follow her lead and pretty soon we are all laughing and joking about again.

"You're alright, Luke." Luci says, high fiving him.

"Why thank you, ladies. I do try." He even takes a small bow while saying so which I snicker at. After a while, we all stand up and empty our trays into the trash. "Hey, I'm just going to go talk with my brother for a bit. I'll catch up with you two in the gym later." I wave goodbye as Luci blows him a kiss then laughs as we walk away.

Not many are staring at me now and I'm grateful as Luci and I head towards our lockers. "A reminder. There is no smoking on the school grounds. Or freezing or bursting into flames." We stare at eachother for a few seconds after the announcement, then burst out laughing.

"I think I'm going to like whoever does these announcements." I say to her as we continue walking.

"Oh boy." Luci says, stopping in her tracks. I stop as well, looking over to where she is staring. It's now that I notice Will and Warren standing together in silence. Will thankfully walks away and Warren turns towards us. I catch his eye and smile at him. He gives me a small smile in return causing Luci to look back and forth between us in confusion. He walks towards us then stops at a locker and opens it. Taking a deep breath, I walk up to him, with a hesitant Luci following behind me. I lean on one of the other lockers near his, shocking him.

"Hey, Warren. This is Luci." I say, pointing towards Luci's frozen form where we both realise she is blatantly staring up at him in sock. Warren tenses up and turns back to his locker. "Um, don't mind her." A few seconds pass in silence with him just moving things about in his locker before I bring up the courage to speak again. "How are you?" I hesitantly ask, hoping for a positive response, or really any response so I'm not just awkwardly standing here. It takes him a few seconds in which he stares at him as though mentally debating himself, for him to respond. But he does.

"How's Power Placement going?" His question startles me at first, but then I grin even though my response doesn't match that expression.

"Not so good. I'm not exactly looking forward to my turn." I admit.

"You'll be fine." I blush a little at his words and roll my eyes.

"So how was the bus?" He asks with a smirk. I pale upon remembering it and he laughs seeing me do so. "You really weren't lying about that fear of heights, were you?" The shake of my head making him grin a little as he closes his locker door. "Well, see you around, Princess." And with that he walks away, leaving me blushing like mad at the nickname.

Quickly, I grab the still frozen Luci and pull her along to her locker. When she finally snaps out of her shock, she almost screams at me. "When did you meet Warren Peace?... Princess?!" I cover her mouth until she promises not to shout anymore, then explain the time at the Paper Lantern to her once I take away my hand and she doesn't scream. Once I'm done, she's grinning like a mad man. "You like Warren Peace." The blush that crosses my face confirms her suspicions. "You do!" I quickly cover her mouth again, but I can't stop that wide grin that spreads across her face. I'm so doomed if she ends up hating me after Power Placement. The thought dampening my mood once more.

* * *

 **A/N:** I can't believe I lost half of that last night! It made me so sad. I've rewritten it now, but I'm afraid it's not as good as it was before, but it'll have to do since I want to get the next chapter started. Review to let me know what you think. :)

Also I want to have a shout out to my new Beta. Thank you av23! :D


	4. Unavoidable

**Chapter Three -** Unavoidable

I watch anxiously as Will stands on the platform, rocking back and forth, looking anywhere but at Coach Boomer. I fight desperately to stay where I am, knowing that Will wants to handle this on his own, but it's difficult knowing that with a few words I can save him from all this embarrassment. Why? Why does Will have to be such a guy and not ask for help when I'm practically begging to. The room is silent as everyone waits in anticipation for the son of the Commander to demonstrate his powers… If only it were possible. Eventually, figuring he has to do something, Will calls Coach Boomer to him and whispers something in his ear.

"What do you mean you don't know what your power is?" The Coach wonders, taking a step back in surprise. Will just stands there, chuckling nervously and looking vulnerable. I stare up at him, hoping to catch his eyes so he can see just how willing I am to make this all go away. But he ignores me, instead choosing to do this on his own. "I got it. You're messin' with the coach, just like your old man." Coach Boomer says, walking a few steps away then looking towards his remote making me panic a little. "Car!" He calls and I scream, bringing my hands up to cover my face as I watch the old, banged up and graffitied car fall on top of my brother. I shut my eyes tight, not wanting to see the result of the collision with Will's tiny frame. I hear lots of murmurs around me, but I don't pay them any attention, not wanting to hear about what just transpired. He's gone. By big brother is gone. Crushed by a dingy old car in Power Placement, thanks to a crazy Coach.

"Are you insane?" A familiar voice calls, and following the orders from small voice in my filled with hope, I open my eyes and peek through my fingers. A massive sigh of relief as I see Will crawl out from underneath the machine. Never before in my life have I been more thankful to the fast reflexes passed down to us from our mom. "I don't have super-strength!" I almost laugh at his words, too relieved to do much else as I watch the car slowly raise back up to it's original position above his head. Will stands up, brushing himself off.

"Oh, I get it." Coach Boomer's words have my panic levels back up to an all time high. What does he get? I sure as hell hope it's that Will really doesn't have any powers, but I'm doubtful. "You're a flyer, just like your ma. Why didn't you say so?" At the sight of him pushing another button on the bloody remote again I scream out.

"No!" But it's too late. I watch in horror as Will is thrown across the room, hitting a supporting beam, non-too-gently, and collapsing onto the ground. I rush over to him in a heartbeat, helping him up.

"Kid, come on. Quit messing around. I haven't got all day." The man says as though he's done nothing wrong. I glare at him, standing up straight and walking up onto the stage.

"Stop it already! He can't show you his power because he doesn't have it right now!" I practically yell in his face, anger and fear for my brother clouding my judgement.

"What do you mean, 'he doesn't have his powers right now'? How's that possible?" He asks, glaring down at me.

"I took them away!" My shout resounds throughout a dead silent hall. All the murmurs stopping and everyone freezing at my words. They all stare at me, but I don't have the patience for any of them at the moment, considering the fact that my brother was almost crushed then thrown across the room by this man in front of me who simply stared at me in confusion.

"You… took them away?" He asks in a surprisingly quiet tone.

"Yes I took them away! Hi, I'm Jamie Stronghold and I have the power to take away super powers which I'm currently demonstrating via my brother. Happy?" I say, too annoyed to care anymore. All that matters is that Will isn't thrown around the place anymore.

"How?" Coach Boomer simply asks, confusing me to no end, stumping my anger for a moment.

"What?"

"How does your power work?" He clarifies and I can't help but just stare at him for a while. Are we really going through my Power Placement now?

"Um… If I touch someone I can take their powers away for an hour at the minimum." In the back of my mind, I notice everyone except Will, taking a step away from me. But I choose to ignore it in favour of getting this stupidity over with. Taking a deep breath, I decide to simply get it all out into the open now, instead of waiting. "I anchor it to my hands most of the time for easy access, which is why I'm always wearing these stupid gloves. It only works with direct skin contact. Depending on how much power I put into it, as soon as I touch someone their powers and everything associated with it, such as invulnerability, goes away and I instantly know everything to do with their power. Strengths, weaknesses, limitations, the whole shebang." I finish, glad that it's finally out in the open, but trying to ignore the fact that everyone is staring at me in horror. Even the Coach.

"It's just through direct contact right?" He asks, unsure, yet apparently hopeful and for once I'm happy to burst someone's bubble.

"The knowledge part yes. But I can send out a small pulse, temporarily rendering everyone close to me, powerless. It doesn't last as long as a touch, but it does the job." Coach Boomer pales and visibly takes a step backwards along with the rest of the class. I glare at him and continue. "Now if that's over, can you stop throwing my twin around the place and just place us already?" I almost growl. My anger returning to me with a vengeance, fuelled by the fear I can almost feel radiating off of everyone in the room. It takes a few seconds, but eventually, Coach Boomer takes control again. Clearing his throat to gain everyone's attention back.

"Right. Will Stronghold, Sidekick until your powers come back." I see Will visibly relax upon hearing those words. Layla even smiles a little bit at me and I feel as though not everything is lost. "Jamie Stronghold, you on the other hand are in Hero class. Next up! You! Blonde girl." He says, pointing towards a wide eyed Luci who won't stop staring at me as I walk back over to Will, ignoring everyone as they step out of the way. Slowly everyone else is sorted, Luci receiving the next Hero class with her power to manipulate water and bring it back from ice and mist, but not freeze or evaporate it. But unfortunately, their fearful stares and clear avoidance of me never stops, even as I step onto the bus. Layla being the only person willing to sit near me. I knew this would happen from the moment I woke up this morning. It was simply unavoidable.

As soon as I enter the front door and Mom sees my face, she knows. Her expression turns sombre and she leads me into her room, indicating for me to sit on the bed with her. She embraces me in a hug, letting me cry to my heart's content. I'm not normally this depressing, but Mom and I both agree, that after a day like today, it's alright. Honestly, I'm not too sure how long we stay like that. All I know for sure is that when all my tears finally dry up, my mom is there to welcome me back with a smile. I give her the best smile I can manage, which admittedly isn't much of one, but she accepts it for what it is. A promise that I will be alright eventually. Smiling, she reaches into her pocket and pulls out a small object, placing it onto my open palm. Looking down, I spot a glimmer of light and stare closely at it. Upon realising that it's a locket I give her a real smile and practically jump on top of her, hugging her tightly. A happy tear following the tracks already made.

"It used to be my mom's and hers before that. It's been passed down through the generations for years now and now it's your turn to hold onto it until you can pass it down to your daughter on her first day of Sky High." Mom explains, her last few words causing a blush to spread across my cheeks that she of course notices. "Already have your eyes on someone?" An image of Warren pops into my head making me redden even more. "Do tell." As much as I hate to admit it, Mom is a massive gossip and although annoying sometimes, it can be really fun.

"I met him at the Paper Lantern. He's a Super and he didn't freak out when I accidentally touched him without my gloves." I confess, playing with the locket in my hands.

"Is he cute?"

"Mom!" I yell in embarrassment.

"Just asking."

"Yeah, he is. He's really tall, dark hair, eyes and skin, and his arms and smile are to die for." I practically swoon at the end.

"What's his name?" I freeze at her words, suddenly wishing the subject had never been breached. She notices and frowns. "What is it honey? I'm sure whatever it is it can't be that bad." Mom tries to comfort me.

"That's the thing. It shouldn't be that bad, but it is. He hates our family thanks to Dad." I admit, looking at the ground so I don't see her face and the expression she makes at my next words. "It's Warren Peace, Mom. He's not as bad as everyone thinks. He's really nice to me. Or, at least he is until he finds out my last name."

"I was afraid of this." My mom's words shock me and I'm too scared to look up at her until she reaches an arm around me and pulls me towards her. "I always knew the day would come where who we are affects you in a negative way. I just didn't think it would come so soon."

"You mean, you don't mind that I like him?" I chance I look up at her, only to see her looking at me with and expression I can't read.

"Oh, Honey. If you believe he's a good person, then I trust your judgement." She hugs me tight, lifting my emotions.

"Thanks, Mom."

"Now how about I show you something that I've been dying to show you for years?" She asks, standing up and grabbing my hand. With that she practically drags me out of the bedroom and through the house until we end up at the very back, with Mom almost bouncing for joy. And here I am, thinking I was the child.

It turns out that Mom definitely has a reason to be excited, for when I finally discover that she is finally showing me the 'Secret Sanctum', I have to say that I honestly squealed like a little girl. The place is amazing. I can hardly believe that all this lay underneath us all this time. Apparently Will shares my view, for after Dad showed him around after he finally arrived home, we actually joked about how Mom and Dad mustn't actually go to work most days, but instead spend their time down there. It definitely made sense to us since we already planned on spending a lot of time down there, trying to beat Mom's record on the pinball machine.

That night, I lay in bed reflecting upon the day. Honestly, for a first day of high school, it wasn't as horrible as I thought it would be. Even if I did make a friend just to lose her by the end of it, at least I managed to get a smile out of Warren.

* * *

 **A/N:** First day over! Unfortunately this didn't turn out how I wanted it to, but at least I got it done and posted. I may go back and change a little bit of it later... I'm not entirely sure. Oh well. For now, I hoped you enjoyed it a little at least and thank you for reading. Reviews are always, and I mean ALWAYS, loved. Until next time. :)


	5. Opposite Day

**A/N:** I would just like to apologise for the late update. I've been getting my first new driving lessons and I've been busy with other important events lately. I was hoping to get a chapter out each day and finish my the end of the month, but that doesn't look likely anymore since I can only work on this when the library is open. Hopefully I'll be able to get the next few chapters out a day or two in between. Wish me luck!

 **IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ!** For those of you who read this story before this chapter was posted I want you to know that I have changed Alex Hamilton's character and he is no longer the guy with six arms but rather a boy with the power to control gravity. His father is now Lance Hamilton. This is kind of important to the story, but not overly so. Thank you for reading this and I hope it doesn't confuse you too much. On with the story! :D

* * *

 **Chapter Four -** Opposite Day

I hope waking up in the morning and fearing the day doesn't turn into an endless routine for me. Three days in a row is a new record; with Luci and the rest of Sky High scared of me, it's looking likely. At least I still have Will and Layla on my side and possibly the ever handsome Warren Peace, if I'm lucky. Now, if only this sick feeling of dread could leave my system, maybe getting up and walking down stairs to greet the former two and my parents wouldn't feel so impossible. The sound of soft footsteps, either my mom or Layla, on the stairs wakes me from my moping enough for me to glance at the clock next to my bed and realise that I'm running late. If I don't get up now I'll miss the bus, but the thought of getting onto that death trap makes me even more reluctant to get up. Unfortunately for the self preservating side of me, my mom slams open the door and barges in, picking up my bag and throwing it at me. It lands heavily on my lap, jolting me to attention.

"Hurry up, Jamie! You are not going to be late for your second day of Sky High! Now get up and catch up with Will and Layla. I sent them ahead to hold the bus for you." Mom lectures me while forcefully pulling me up and dragging me out of my room with my jacket in her hand. She hands me a slice of toast and a glass of milk that I scull, before shoving me out the door, throwing my jacket at me where it lands over my face, temporarily blinding me. Thankfully, I move the piece of toast out of the way in time for it to not mess up my jacket.

Knowing I have no choice now, I wave goodbye to Mom and run off towards the bus stop, praying that I somehow manage to not make it in time. I have no such luck, arriving on time just as Ron pulls up to the stop. Once the doors open, Will and Layla willingly jump on board, but I don't move, too scared to do anything.

"Are you getting on, Stronghold?" Ron asks once he notices me standing there. His words causing Will and Layla to turn around and see me still on the curb. I don't move hoping that somehow, if I just stand here they will go on without me. But my stupid hopes are useless as Will grabs me by the wrist and yanks me on board. I stumble on the steps, but Will pays no heed, instead pulling me to an empty seat and forcing me to sit on it. My strongest glare doing nothing to stop him in his tracks. Thankfully my one saving grace is that Layla is the one to sit next to me, after Zack calls Will over to sit on the other side of the bus. Layla and I don't talk much other than the traditional 'how are you?' and 'are you looking forward to today?' both of which I give noncommittal replies. Layla catches onto my mood and grabs a hold of my hand, startling me.

"It'll be alright, Jamie. You'll see." She simply says, giving my hand a small squeeze before letting go and turning to talk to Will and Zack. I'm lost in thought until seat belts strap themselves around me and a metal bar appears in front of us, the bus suddenly plummeting to the ground, making my stomach sink. All thoughts fly out of my mind as my vocal cords make themselves known to the inhabitants of the death machine. While everyone else seems to be enjoying the ride, my knuckles are turning white from the unrelenting grip I have on the bar.

As we land, I am the first one to stand and run out of there, jumping over a shocked Layla in the process. Unlike yesterday, the contents of my stomach find their way onto the ground. I'm not proud to admit that it made me feel better. Somehow, during the emptying of my stomach, the bag I yet again left on the 'bus' found it's way to my side, but as I look up, no one is in sight. Even Will, Layla and Zack can be found walking up the stairs towards school. Confusion racks my brain, but I leave it be, standing up and wiping my mouth, I slowly walk to my locker, bag on my shoulder.

Closing my locker, I storm towards my first class, trying to ignore the watching eyes and the way everyone moves out of my way, as though I'm carrying a deadly, contagious disease. It hurts knowing my power is the cause of this stigma. Too lost in my thoughts, I don't notice the hand that reaches out to grab me until it's too late. The hand pulls me backwards into a dark classroom and shuts the door behind me, blanketing the room in darkness before I have the chance to see who my captor is. They push me back into the door with a brutal force, scaring me senseless while a hand clamps down over my mouth, cutting off my scream before I can even take a breath. Fear seizes my heart, taking over my senses, making it difficult to breathe. But as I do, the scent of burning wood and a strange mix of spices hits me making me want to melt. As my eyes get used to the light, I begin to make out the silhouette of a man.

"Stronghold." The sound of Warren's deep voice growling my last name makes me flinch back into the wood of the door. Pure hatred is all I can feel other than the heat radiating off of him in waves. "So it's true." He states, his voice sending a shiver down my spine. Silence stretches out between us with neither of us moving a muscle until he suddenly pulls his hand away from my mouth. I don't move or say a thing, simply looking into the eyes I can barely make out. "Why did you lie to me?" The question asked no louder than a whisper. His words laced in hurt and betrayal making my heart quake. Somehow I'm close to tears and it confuses me so much. How can one person that I've only known no longer than two days make my heart react like this?

"I didn't lie! I just didn't tell you my last name. I didn't think it was important." The last of my words dying off in a whisper and losing conviction.

"Wasn't important? So the fact that your dad locked mine up in solitary confinement isn't important?!" What started off as a disbelieving question turns into a yell of rage. I flinch back as he slams his hand against the door right next to my head. The loud sound causing my ear to ring.

"No!" I call out in desperation, begging him to understand. "That's not what I-" But he cuts me off.

"Enough! Lie to me again and I'll roast you." He growls into my left ear, igniting his hand on my right side for emphasis. The flame lighting up his angered features for a brief moment. Shoving me out of the way, he opens the door behind me and storms out of the room, leaving me alone as I try to fight back tears.

Taking a deep breath, I step outside the room in time to see Warren's retreating form turn the corner. I tell myself that I can do this as I turn to continue on my way to class, trying my hardest to ignore everyone's judging eyes. It's just one step in front of the other. Nothing too hard about it except for the ten tonnes of weight weighing down my heart at the moment and the sheer build up of tears trying to force their way through. Before I can really make much notable progress, I'm being dragged back into the very same room where my last real hope of a normal high school life just abandoned me. Not bothering to fight back or scream this time, I'm completely taken off guard when two thin arms wrap around me. I stand there in shock, my bag dropping to the floor, not registering what is happening until a distinctly feminine and slightly familiar voice speaks up.

"Are you alright?" It asks and I look up in bewilderment at Luci's face where I can faintly make out the concern in her features.

"What do you care?" I ask after a few moments of silence, completely confused and slightly believing that I have lost my mind.

"I'm sorry," She says honestly, looking into my eyes, or at least what she believes are my eyes with the non existent lighting in this room, "I just got these powers that introduced me to a whole new world and I didn't want to lose them. But my powers got me you and I realised I don't deserve them if I turn my back on the first person to welcome me into this new world," I almost get lost in her rapid rambling, but thankfully she stops to take a breath before saying her last four words that bring all of my emotions flooding out, "Can you forgive me?"

The dam holding my tears back, bursts and I collapse into Luci's awaiting arms. My emotions forcing their way out through my tear ducts and clamping down on my vocal cords, so I do the only thing I can. I reach out and hug her with everything I have. 'I haven't lost her!' Is all I can think as I cling onto Luci and let all the stress and drama of the last day or so wash out of me. I feel her smile against me and tighten her hold on me as she lets out a relieved laugh. We suddenly break apart at the ringing of the final warning bell and it's now that I realise we are both late for our first lesson of Hero class. Cursing, we open the door and rush out, Luci surprisingly carrying my bag that I dropped earlier.

Running towards our class, I see Will and his friends entering into the class next to ours. Looking over, he spots Luci behind me and gives me a small smile that I return before he enters into his classroom. Luci and I stop to regain our breath, as we stand outside our Mad Science classroom. Taking one last deep breath, I stand up straight and push the door open to see the class already seated and a man in a lab coat with an enormous head, standing at the front of our class, sending us a disapproving stare. My face turns red in embarrassment as all eyes turn to us.

"I see that we have a few late comers who don't believe they should arrive on time like the rest of the class." The man says, crossing his arms.

"I'm so sorry. We lost track of time." Luci apologises as we both duck our heads in shame.

"It won't happen again." I promise looking up into his eyes in time to see him roll them.

"See to it that it doesn't." He gives us a pointed stare. "There are two empty seats at the back. Go take them." He says pointing towards them. We nod our heads and quickly rush over to them. Taking out seats, Luci dumps my bag in front of me and I send her a grateful smile.

"What would you do without me?" She whispers back with a smile as the teacher begins to speak to the class again.

"Now that everyone is here, I would like to start off by introducing myself. I am Mr. Medula and I will be your teacher for Mad Science this year. This class is here to prepare and inform you about everything that is out there to harm you, what each of them can do and what you can do to protect yourself and others from them along with how to use some of them to your advantage. This will be a dangerous class and I ask that you take it seriously."

Although Luci and I take his warning seriously, it doesn't look as though many others do. My thoughts are proven true when someone in our class fires off a ray gun that Mr. Medula is passing around to the class and hits an important looking machine. A loud explosion rattles the building causing all the lights to flicker off and cast us into darkness. Several screams escape from our classmates including one from Luci who ducks under the table with me.

"Calm down. No need to panic." Mr. Medula says to pacify the class. Grabbing a torch and moving over to the boy I recognise as Alex Hamilton, the boy from yesterday with gravity manipulation, Mr. Medula grabs the ray gun out of his shaking hands and turns on him. "That was very foolish Mr..." He leaves blank for Alex to fill in.

"Alex Hamilton." He stutters out.

"Congratulations, Mr. Hellmen. You just managed to kill all the single cell organisms in the school. Detention after class. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to check if anyone is injured in the next class over." Mr. Medula lectures, ignoring Alex's futile attempts to correct his name and walks out the door. A few silent seconds pass and Luci cracks up laughing, cueing in the class which erupts in chatter.

"I'm really starting to not like that Alex guy. He's too much like my last ex." Luci grumbles to me making me laugh.

"You've had a boyfriend?" I ask, considering I've never had one, I'm curious. She holds up two fingers and my eyes widen. Leaning in, I whisper, "What's it like?" My question causing us to go into full on girl mode, talking about boys. Luckily before the conversation can move onto Warren, Mr. Medula walks back into the classroom with the lights back on now.

Now, with the lesson back on track, Mr. Medula locks away all forms of weapons and instead gets four others, along with Luci and I to help him carry six different large glowing rocks in glass containers to the table out front. Upon sitting down, I notice that all six rocks are different colors. Purple, gold, green, red, blue and white, in order from left to right.

He soon explains that each kind of rock, most commonly known as Kryptonite, reacts differently to the different kind of powers we each hold. For instance the green Kryptonite reacts to powers that alter the chemical makeup of our body. He lifts up the glass, revealing the rock and I witness as almost half the class passes out. My first reaction is to worry about them and go see if anyone is hurt, but the sound of Luci's laughter beside me and the smile on the teacher's face stops me from doing so. After he covers the Kryptonite back up, many students begin to regain consciousness. He then explains the others, the one affecting me most being the blue Kryptonite.

When he lifts up the glass case my head starts spinning and the ground beneath me shifts making me feel weightless. Before I know what's going on, everything goes white and I can no longer feel my body, but it doesn't bother me. It's as though having no control over my body no longer matters. It's not until the light vanishes and I hear Luci's voice calling me that I notice I'm on the floor along with three others. Apparently Mr. Medula made us all sit down and suck our thumbs. He later explains that normally it would simply make us pass out like the green Kryptonite, but since he has minor telepathic abilities he could control our actions to an extent. A scary thought if I'm honest to myself.

We found out that the white Kryptonite affects Luci's control over the elements and someone with strong telepathic abilities could possibly turn them against her. Needless to say, by the end of the lesson all of us now look at the class in a new light. All in all, it was a great first lesson and the fact that Luci is now my lab partner made it even better.

Walking into the cafeteria after Mad Science, even Luci notices how people part like the Red Sea for us. Yet strangely she isn't annoyed or freaked out by it like I am, instead finding the perks such as not constantly bumping into people and even getting an entire table to ourselves. Hilarious.

"Being friends with you may just turn out to be the best decision I've ever made if things keep up like this. It feels a little like I'm royalty or something." She comments, brightening my mood.

"That's definitely one way of looking at it," I say while picking at my food, "Honestly, I didn't think you would ever speak to me again when I woke up this morning. It's like it's Opposite Day or something for me. I woke up thinking that you would hate me and Warren would be the only person on my side, but as it turns out, everything's reversed." Luci looks at me as though just remembering the events of this morning, and for all I know, she possibly is.

"What happened with him anyway? Last I knew, you two were eyeing each other like no ones business." Her words cause me to blush for a moment upon remembering the frantic racing of my heart yesterday when I was speaking to Warren at his locker, but it suddenly drops when I see him sitting behind Luci, glaring ferociously at me. She notices and quickly glances behind her to see him, and although I know he can see her doing so, he never takes his eyes off of me. Personally, I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing since he's still glaring. Turning back around, she gives me a pointed look. "Spill."

"He found out who I really am." I say, not taking my eyes off of his.

"That's it?" Her deadpan words shake me out of my staring contest with Warren to glance at her in confusion. "That's seriously the reason for Mr. Hotpants over there glaring at you like you killed his grandmother?" She gives me an incredulous look before standing up suddenly. "I'm going over there and knocking some sense into him."

Thanking my quick reflexes, I manage to grab her arm and yank her back down before she can do anything stupid, like embarrass me for the rest of my life and make Warren hate me even more, if that's even possible. "Luci, stop! You're just going to make things worse." I whisper harshly to her while unsuccessfully trying to avoid Warren's curious gaze.

"Fine, but if this isn't sorted out by the end of the week, I'm doing it, no matter what you say." The seriousness in Luci's voice making me not doubt her one bit that she will follow through with her threat, as that's what it is and she knows it. Compared to the beginning of today, the rest of the day is quite uneventful. With introductions to Hero History and Hero Tactics being pretty self explanatory the only notable event being the horrid trip home, where thankfully Luci and I sit together while I scream my lungs out. I really have chosen an interesting friend for my time here at Sky High. I just hope I made the right choice.

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 **A/N:** Thank you for reading and a large thank you to my beta av23! Next chapter will involve Jamie's first week at Sky High along with an awkward talk between Luci, Warren and Jamie most likely. If I can figure out how to write it. Please review and let me know what you think. :)


	6. Failed Attempts

**A/N:** Hi, everyone. I'm so sorry for how long this chapter took to write. For some reason I just couldn't get it out of me until now. Unfortunately, it isn't as nice as I would have liked it to be, but at least it is finally complete, along with chapters Six and Seven which I completed a while ago. Also I would like to let you know that I am writing a oneshot with Warren and another OC of mine. It takes place after the movie and has to do with the yearbook awards. I'll let you know when I have it completed.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed my story, I hope you all received the messages in thanks that I sent you and thank you to everyone who has favourite or followed my story so far. I love you!

Nadia: Thank you for your review and I'm so glad you are finding this story interesting. It's taking longer than I would have liked, but finally this chapter is complete and things can finally get back on track. I hope you enjoy it.

Enjoy the chapter! :)

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 **Chapter Five -** Failed Attempts

That night, as I stay down in the 'Secret Sanctum', avoiding the first lot of homework we were given, Mom walks in and pulls me close to her like she normally does. I sigh as I stare down at the stupid pinball machine and she knows instantly that I want to talk about something that's bothering me, but I just can't find the right way to bring it up. So she does. "What's bothering you, honey?" She asks, gently rubbing my arm, trying to coax it out of me.

"I definitely had an interesting day today. I went there expecting one thing, only to have everything turn on it's head." I confess, turning around to face her. She just looks at me and lets me talk. "I had a fight with Warren... if you can even call it a fight, that is. He confronted me about Dad and said I lied to him when I kept my last name from him. He stormed off without even letting me explain. Then Luci came running to my rescue, which made me feel a little better knowing that she doesn't hate me. I went there expecting the lessons to be boring, but one of them scared me yet intrigued me more than I thought possible. All in all, it's been a crazy day, Mom, and I just want it over with."

Mom listens to me the entire time, not saying anything and keeping her face passive. It's good that I can get it all out, without having to worry about Mom overreacting to anything before I explain it all to her. She's great like that and I just hope that she can give me some advice or knowledge to sleep on instead of this worry and anxiety that's eating away at me.

"That definitely does sound like quite a day. I'm glad that you have your friend back and that you're enjoying your classes. You should get to know her some more. Maybe even invite her over some time if she's willing to get over her fear, all for you," I smile and lean against the pinball machine, feeling a bit of the weight leave my shoulders, "As for Warren," She starts and I tense up, knowing that this is the part that I'm waiting for advice on the most. Mom notices and gives me a reassuring smile before continuing, "Try talking to him. If he's as great a guy as you've made him out to be, I'm sure he'll listen."

That's it? Talk to him? I was so hoping for something a little more sage. Maybe along the lines of 'he'll come around if you give him time' or 'show him that you're not like all the other girls'. But 'talk to him'? That I wasn't expecting. Sighing, I concede that she is most likely right and push myself off of the pinball machine. "Now how about a friendly game of pool?" She asks and I laugh, following her to grab a cue stick and let her set up. Maybe talking to Warren is worth a shot.

The next morning finds me screaming, yet again, the entire way to school, with my eyes squeezed shut. It's not until Luci is shaking my shoulder and telling me we've landed that I slowly let go of the bar and open my eyes. As soon as I'm able to, I bolt right out of there again and collapse against the ground. Luci calmly walks up behind me and sets my bag down next to me. "Is this going to become a regular occurrence?" She asks as she helps me up.

"I think so." I admit while slowly nodding.

"Good thing you'll have me then. Don't want you leaving your bag on the bus." She says in a cocky way and I laugh a little at that.

"Yeah, that wouldn't be good." With that, we walk into the building and towards our lockers, where I spot Warren, along the way, at his locker and stop dead in my tracks. Luci looks back at me in confusion then follows the line of my sight, seeing Warren. Smirking, she takes my bag from me and shoves me towards him making me stumble into his back.

Taking a step backwards, I look up into his eyes as he turns around and looks down at me, glaring, sending a shiver down my spine for unknown reasons.

"What do you want, Stronghold?"

"I-I… that is… um… hi?" I stutter, trying my hardest to control the rising blush that's spreading over my face.

"Go away." He almost growls, making my heart falter, before he slams his locker closed and walks away himself. My legs go weak and I struggle to stay standing. I know I'm probably about to collapse as my knees give out, but thankfully Luci grabs me and helps me stand.

"Well that didn't go as planned." She frowns and I look at her with disbelieving eyes. She really just did that to me.

"I don't think this is exactly something that can be fixed just by shoving me into his path and making him confront me." I tell her, starting to regain strength in my legs to stand on my own.

"Yeah, I guess. Maybe I'll just have to give him a good talking to, then." She says dead serious and I stop at her words.

"What? No!" I practically scream, terrified of her making things worse. How exactly things could get worse, I have no idea. But I dread to find out.

"Relax, I'm told I'm excellent at interventions. Remember, you have until the end of the week to do something about it. The time can go by pretty quickly if you don't try your hardest, Jamie." She almost sings as she begins to walk away again to our lockers.

"You make it sound like he's a drug or something." I mumble making her laugh, following behind her.

Once we have successfully placed our bags in our lockers, Luci proceeds to squeal like a little girl, gaining the attention from others around us. I roll my eyes at her antics and just wait for her to finish.

"It's 'Save The Citizen' today!" Luci practically screams, jumping up and down in her excitement.

"You're really looking forward to today, aren't you?" I ask already knowing the answer. She frantically nods her head and as soon as I close my locker door she's dragging me to the gym before the first warning bell even sounds.

"Aren't you? It's the only class where we get to actually watch others use their powers and if we're lucky, use them ourselves in order to accomplish something. I heard Luke going on about how his brother managed to save the citizen in under one minute one time, yesterday in our last class, and since then I can't stop thinking about it." She gushes, leading us into the gym and towards the empty bleachers. So that's why, I realise as Luci promptly finds a seat directly in the middle and plops us down.

"Not really. I mean, it's not like my powers are anything to really find fun to watch." I notice Luci tense up a little as I admit this, but I try to ignore it. I can't really blame her for being afraid. At least she is treating me normally, which is more than I expected. We stay sitting there, just randomly talking about things as people slowly trickle in after the first warning bell, only for a huge crowd to suddenly appear a few seconds after the second and final warning bell. Luci spots 'Mr. Hotpants' as she has dubbed him and points Warren out to me as he walks in. She calls him a 'vision to die for' and I can't help agree as I watch him walk by in the gym clothes that show off his rippling arm muscles and chest. Warren spots us and glares directly at me while he goes to sit away from the rest of the crowd. I frown, but try to not let it get to me. I'm having fun with my friend. I shouldn't be letting a single guy ruin that.

Coach Boomer blows his whistle loudly, quieting down the room to an unnerving silence. "Alright, listen up! For today only Freshmen are exempt from participating. You are to watch and learn to prepare yourself for next week." He says, using a small amount of his power to make sure that everyone hears him. "Are we clear?" A resounding 'yes Coach Boomer' satisfies him enough for him to focus on calling out the first paring for 'Save the Citizen'. "Speed, Lash, you're up!"

I watch, along with Luci, as team after team is wiped out by Speed and Lash. According to Luke's brother, who is sitting a row in front of us with Luke and Charlie, no freshman has ever won 'Save the Citizen' since the school was founded.

"So we shouldn't be too let down when we lose, he's hinting at." Luke comments, winking at Luci who laughs in response. Somehow, during their long conversation following, Luci manages to convince him and Charlie to sit with us at lunch. Charlie is hesitant at first, glancing randomly at me, but she's not one to let a good opportunity pass her by, according to her, that is.

After grabbing my tray of food, I walk over to mine and Luci's table only to find the table almost filled to capacity. How on earth convincing two boys to sit with us at lunch made this happen, I have no idea. But it did. I spot Luci chatting away with Luke to her right, Charlie opposite him. Those two I expected. Who I didn't expect to see there are Alex and a random, blond girl I don't know. But they are. Chatting away quite happily together, might I ad. That is, until I arrive, placing my tray down and taking my seat on Luci's left. The conversations die off abruptly once they notice me and an awkward silence reigns over all, as the three sitting across from Luci, Luke and I stare at me in fear. I just roll my eyes at them and start eating my food, not wanting to deal with anyone else at the moment after bumping into Warren again, only to have him glare at me and walk off before I could even say 'sorry'. Thankfully Luke comes to my rescue and starts making a random comment about the last fight in 'Save the Citizen'. Everyone else, except for Luci awkwardly laugh, whereas she does so honestly, and conversations start up as normal again. Glad for that moment to be over, I don't bother focusing much on the conversations until Luke, quite loudly might I ad, starts boasting about his father being the one and only 'Toxic', which starts a table wide conversation about everyone's Super lineage. Apparently, both Charlie and him are second generation with their fathers being the only Super's in the line so far, where as Alex and Taylor, the girl he brought with him are first generations like Luci, leaving myself as the only third generation on the table. Once my parents are brought up, Charlie and Luke actually start talking to me, asking questions about life with two Super parents. My vague answers that I'm forced to give, after receiving a rather painful nudge from Luci in the side, surprisingly aren't deterring them as they start to include me into the rest of their conversations.

Once back in the gym, Charlie and Luke are sitting with Luci and I, actually talking. Charlie seems like a comedian and although he's a little wary of me, at least he's talking to me instead of looking anywhere else, like most of our class… or the school really. For that I thank him. Where as, Luke doesn't seem to be as bothered by it. In fact, he seems to be completely enamored by Luci's charm. Alex and Taylor, on the other hand, are still avidly avoiding me like the plague apart from at lunch time when they sit with us at our table for reason's unknown to me. It's not like Luci's forcing them to. In fact, she made it avidly clear that she would rather Alex stay as far away from her as possible after he inadvertently called her a whore when she commented on another guy being cute, like she tends to do most of the time. Apparently the world is full of cute guys that suit Luci's tastes, but she has yet to find the one she wants to persue. She admits to me once though that Lash would be a strong contender, if he wasn't so much of an ass. It quickly becomes a joke between us that he is her 'Prince-Not-So-Charming' and Speed is his 'Loyal Steed'.

The rest of the week is a little uneventful compared to the first three days. Throughout the week I see Warren randomly, but always only his back walking away from me, as though he's trying avoiding me and the thought hurts. No matter how many times I pluck up the courage to go talk to him, he spots me and turns to talk away before I can even get a word out. It's frustrating beyond belief.

We find out during our second lesson, in Mad Science, that Gwen Grayson is the teaching assistant. She helps us memorise the different types of Kryptonite, how they are formed and what they do, including how certain people with high levels of telepathic powers can use them. Some of the things I learn in that lesson really freak me out, but Gwen assures me that it's rare to actually come across Kryptonite in everyday life. Even most Heroes don't face it at all throughout their vast careers due to it's ridiculously high price and the Heroes League that is constantly seeking them out and destroying them. Our other classes turn out to be rather interesting as well, but so far Mad Science is the only class that really fascinates me.

Apart from classes, I still haven't managed to figure out how to speak to Warren without him avoiding me. But apparently I don't need to, for Luci decides that she's had enough of it and sticks to the threat she made earlier on in the week. I admit that this is probably the most mortifying moment of the week as she marches right up to Warren at his locker, apparently the only place we can corner him without too large of an audience and many escape routes. I watch on in horror as she tears into him about his avid avoidance of me for 'no valid reason'. She pipes on and on about how he's so stupid to realise what's right in front of him and I stare in shock as he just looks at her, not doing anything to retaliate. I think he's just as shocked as I am to really do anything. At the end of it, Luci storms off and he watches her retreating back until his eyes meet mine and don't look away for a few seconds. In that time Luci turns around and yells something once more at him that I don't catch, making him break eye contact with me and turn around, walking away.

I follow after Luci, trying to calm her down as she briskly walks to our 'bus' and hops on, taking a seat at the end of the stupid flying machine. Sitting down next to her, I stay quiet, not really knowing what to say to her right now. She doesn't say anything either as we drive off the edge of the school. Plummeting downwards, I feel the contents of my stomach raise up and do flips, reminding me why I hate going to and from school. At least today, when I stumble off the bus as I always do, one stop after my usual stop, too exhausted to run like in the morning, I'm not alone. Luci steps down, following me and I'm glad she agreed to spend the night at mine, since I don't want to leave her when she is like this. Together, we walk to Luci's place to pick up her things, before heading to mine. While there I'm surprised to find out that she gets her looks mostly from her mom, but her personality from her dad, who welcomes me with a hug. I'm startled at first, not used to being hugged by anyone other than Will and Mom, as not even Luci has touched me so. But I begin to feel relaxed, knowing that they won't constantly freak like others, believing that I'll take away their power, since they don't have any. It's a welcome change and makes me think that maybe I should start trying to get to know more civilians if this is what it feels like.

By the time Luci and I arrive at my home, Will has already taken up the living room with his friends for his study group, so we head upstairs after introductions are over. I tell Luci that she can place her things wherever she likes and to make herself feel at home. Not surprisingly, she instantly drops her bag on the floor by the door and jumps onto my white, blue and pink bed, with a smile. I'm glad to see that she is finally starting to relax a little after the confrontation with Warren earlier. Laughing at her antics, I pull the two bean bags from under my bed, one blue and the other pink, my customary pastel colors that I wear all the time with my white jacket and gloves, and drop myself onto the blue one.

An hour or so later and Luci and I have finally stopped mucking around to get stuck into our work. Together we manage to sort out a way to split the workload. As it turns out, Luci is secretly a Super geek, I discovered only today after seeing her room filled with posters and comic books, so she comes in handy for Super History and Hero Tactics, where as I'm dubbed the Mad Science wiz already apparently. I do the homework for that subject since it's the subject with the most, and together we manage to get the rest of our subjects figured out.

"I still can't believe you spoke to Warren like that." I randomly comment after staring at a particularly annoying question for over ten minutes. Looking up from my books, I find her answering one of her own questions.

"He deserved it." She says calmly, as though this kind of thing happens every day. I sure as hell hope not.

"It didn't change a thing." I tell her with a hint of defeat.

"Was worth a shot. Besides I think it may have. That look he gave you definitely screamed something interesting." Luci looks up from her work and smiles at me.

"Yeah. Hate." I say, rolling my eyes.

"Say what you will. I personally think it was lust." She winks and we giggle, going back to our work.

At some point I hear the front door open and close, the thin walls not doing much to keep privacy in this house, along with warmth, and I figure it's probably one of my parents, so I don't bother going downstairs to investigate, too busy doing my Hero English homework with Luci. I do stop and look up at Luci, worried as I hear my dad's voice scream, "Washed out?!" Then a loud smash resound throughout the house.

Concerned, I excuse myself from Luci and slowly leave my room and hesitantly walk downstairs. I reach the bottom in time to hear Will yell, "It's not Coach Boomer, Dad! It's me, okay? I don't have any powers." I stop dead in my tracks upon seeing Dad's shocked face, scared as to what he will do next. Slowly, but surely I watch as he seems to come to a conclusion. The same conclusion I came to years ago and dreaded the day he would.

"Jamie!" He yells making me flinch. I know he's seen me now as he snaps his head in my direction and goes to yell at me again and I know I deserve it for doing such a thing to my own brother. But Will speaks up, quickly distracting him.

"Wait, Dad! It's not Jamie's fault either! She helped me keep it a secret." Will defends me, making me feel even worse, because it is my fault. What other explanation could there possibly be?

"But you never said… I mean, you made it seem like…" Dad says, looking lost and I begin to feel sorry for him.

"Like I had super-strength like you and Jamie just kept on messing up? But I don't Dad, and Jamie's taken the blame for long enough." I look at him and he gives me a reassuring look, but it doesn't help me much.

"But you will, Will! You're just… You're just a late bloomer! That's what it is!" Our dad said, gripping a hold of Will, as if desperate to find a silver-lining in a bleak situation. There isn't as far as I can see and I've been looking for a long time.

"Maybe. Maybe not. But I don't care. Because, really, the fact of the matter is I'm proud to be a Sidekick… actually, I'm proud to be Hero Support." Will says, finally standing up to our dad who just stands there watching his retreating son's back, completely lost now. Who wouldn't be? He just found out one of the only things he shares in common with his only son is a lie.

Seeing my chance, I take a step back and go to leave, not wanting to deal with this at the moment, when he suddenly turns towards me, as though just now remembering my presence, which wouldn't really surprise me. "Jamie," He calls, making me stop in my tracks, "We need to talk."

There they are. The famous words that almost guarantee my doom… or grounding at least. My shoulders sink as I walk up to him. "Is it true? What Will said." He clarifies and all I can do under his scrutiny is nod my head, my eyes not meeting his once. I just can't do it. Not when I'm the reason for all of this pain in the first place. "Are you sure he's not just covering for you again?" At these words I finally look up at him, hurt and betrayal showing in my eyes that he would actually ask me that. I think he sees it too, but before he can do anything, I turn around and leave, running back to my room and Luci by extension.

I can't help it. I cry into Luci's shoulder as she comforts me and my stupid daddy issues. That night we put aside study and snack on ice-cream and crisps we sneak from the kitchen, staying up watching all kinds of movies and I pour out all my frustration and sadness at Dad's treatment of me.

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 **A/N:** This story hasn't been fully edited by my lovely beta reader av23 yet, so I'll repost it once she is done. Thank you for helping me so much. :)

 **ALSO! I will post the next chapter up as soon as I get a review! XD**


	7. Warren's Conflict

**A/N:** Here is a treat for everyone who has patiently waited for me. Two chapters in one day! Chapter seven shall be posted in two days time. Thank you for following this story and the favourites if you did so.

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 **Chapter Six** \- Warren's Conflict

The next Tuesday finds the school's resident bullies, Speed and Lash tormenting my brother yet again. When will they grow up? I ask myself as I stand up from my usual perch on the ground when I get off the 'bus'. Speed zooms around with Ron's hat, passing it to Lash who then throws it into the mud and runs off, racing up the stairs with Speed. I roll my eyes at their antics before linking arms with Luci to go walk to our lockers.

At least I look better today than I did yesterday with my eyes still puffy from the night before and the awkwardness of the morning with Dad not speaking to me yet again, adding a slight sadness to my actions. Sure, Dad still hasn't spoken a word to me since then, but at least I feel a bit more sure of myself with the help from Luci and even, surprisingly Luke, who's become attached to Luci's side whenever out of class. I found it hilarious, yet cute, when I first saw it at lunch time yesterday.

So far this week I have done a fairly good job of avoiding any confrontations with Warren, but the looks he's sending me are so confusing that it's tempting to just march right up to him and ask what the hell is going on. His reactions to me last week and this week have been all over the place. First he likes me, going as far as to even smile at me, but then he goes and gives me whiplash by turning that heart melting smile into a fierce glare that sends shivers down my spine.

After my embarrassingly horrifying bump into him, where Luci quite literally threw me at him, he's been avoiding me like the plague. And now? Honestly I don't even know. I'm not even sure he knows anymore. Sometimes he's glaring at me and other times he's almost sweet. Like when he saved me from Penny yesterday only to then storm off like I'd somehow pissed him off again somehow. It confuses me to no end. Even Luke has no idea himself and he's a boy too. Aren't boys meant to understand each other? Sure girls don't, but surely boys would. But apparently not. Warren is an enigma to all.

With my current state of mind lost in my thoughts, I don't notice where I am going until my trustworthy best friend Luci, guides me straight into a wall causing me to drop my bag and all of my books to go spilling out… or at least I think it's a wall. It's definitely solid enough although a little warm. But the two hands on either side of me, steadying me and making sure I don't fall over, paints a different picture. One of cute pyromaniacs with smoldering brown eyes and large biceps clad in leather holding me in place.

Daring to look up, I'm met with the worried expression of Warren Peace no further than three inches away. Before I can help it, my face is dusting over with a light shade of pink in my embarrassment. I want to say something, but no sound passes through my lips that I notice Warren glance at before quickly looking back into my eyes that are slightly clouded over now. His mouth opens as though to say something, but before he can get more than a single syllable out, the bell is ringing, signaling the beginning of lunch. Breaking eye contact, Warren suddenly clenches his hands tighter around my arms before letting go and abruptly walking away, leaving me there alone, for I never noticed when Luke and Luci walked away with my books and bag.

The hall quickly crowds with people flocking to the cafeteria and I follow them in my confused haze, hoping to somehow find Luke or Luci so I could just sit down and gather my thoughts, for they are currently running around rampant, like headless chickens in my head. Thankfully, after grabbing a tray and something random from the lunch line, I find Luci already sitting at a table with our group of… friends, I guess I can call them now. Luci spots me as I walk up to them and grabs my arm, promptly making me sit next to her and my tray fall deftly onto the table. It's a good thing that I only grabbed a sandwich and bottle of water while I was moving through the line like a zombie. Apparently I'm a logically thinking zombie. Nice to know.

Looking at her, it's clear Luci thinks she somehow helped me by shoving me in front of Warren, just to leave me there alone with him in the middle of an empty hallway. There is no way I am ever going to tell her that she's right. Unfortunately, I think she can tell just by the blush that is still lightly covering my face.

Sitting there, I quietly listen to the conversation around me, silently reacting in all the right places while I stare over Charlie's shoulder and into deep brown eyes that occasionally glance up from the magazine they're reading to look into mine. The shared glances confuse, yet enamor me to no end. I'm not sure as to what he's feeling, but at least he isn't glaring at me anymore.

Everything seems to be going as usual, until a tray of food goes spilling all over Warren and his belongings. I cringe at the thought of whoever has to face him at this moment. That is, until I glance over and notice it's Will who's standing there, almost shaking in fear. I watch, dreading the outcome as Warren stands up from his table, leaving all his belongings there and glares at my brother's small form. I stand up with the rest of my table in anticipation for the unavoidable fight. I almost feel like hitting Will myself, though, when he brings up Barron Battle. Warren and I may not have spoken much before, nor have we been on the best of grounds lately, but even I know never to mention him in front of his son. "I'm sorry that my dad put your dad in jail, but…" He has to say it in the worst possible way as well, doesn't he?

"Shut up, Will!" I shout in desperation, hoping in vain to stop this fight before it begins.

"Stay out of this Jamie!" Warren says in a low voice to me. I stare at him in shock at the use of my first name while he grabs Will by his shirt and whispers threateningly to him. I gasp as Warren powers up mere inches away from Will's face and lets go of his shirt, managing to only singe it a little. Will slowly backs up after Warren lets go of him, but he isn't far enough away as Warren launches a fireball at him. Everyone not standing up already does so at this as I watch Will grab a lunch tray and block the attack just in time. Thank you Mom for passing your fast reflexes onto Will and I.

Hearing chanting near me, I glare at anyone close enough with the help of Luci, effectively shutting them up. I watch on in horror as Warren lobs another flaming projectile at Will that he barely evades and it's now that I truly wish I could go back in time and somehow do something, anything, to stop this from happening in the first place. Fireball after fireball is sent hurtling towards my twin and I feel useless. Why isn't anyone doing anything to stop this? At that thought, I realise that I'm not doing anything either, other than watching everything unfold. Stepping forward, I yell for them to stop, but all it does is make Warren falter while Will goes running off in some random direction only to fall over.

Warren calmly walks up to Will and I follow along with the rest of the crowd, stopping only when I see Warren power up. But this time it's more than just his hands. I watch, partially fascinated as the flames flicker, covering most of his arms and I can't help the strange feeling that erupts in the pit of my abdomen. But as he raises his hands up higher to attack, I realise I can't let this happen.

"Warren!" I call, gaining his attention long enough for him to look in my direction and a flicker of an unknown emotion pass over his face that I don't get enough time to recognise before we hear a cry from Layla.

"Will, get out of there!" Will crawls under a table, making the anger cover Warren's features again as he see's this. Raising his arms above his head, he joins the flames together, creating a large fireball and throws it at the table Will just hid under, effectively melting the end of it. I watch on as Warren jumps onto the table and throws small flames down the sides of it, forcing Will forward and to the other end of the table. I truly start to panic now as I watch this happen. Without thinking, I follow Warren onto the table as he nears the end. The only thought running through my mind is that I have to stop this somehow, before either of them get's hurt, since no one else will do a thing.

"Where's your Sidekick, Sidekick?" Warren yells at Will and I watch as Will's friends all stand up and walk forward.

"Right here!" Zack calls with Ethan backing him up, "Yeah." Layla and Magenta standing beside them, watching me.

Taking off my right glove as I quietly sneak up behind Warren, I hold it in my left hand and slowly reach out my right hand towards the back of his neck. He powers up once more and I take a final step towards him, bringing myself onto the same table as him now.

"Leave them alone!" I hear Will yell before the table starts shaking beneath me. I let out a small shriek in fear as the table lifts up high into the air, almost knocking me off. I grab a hold of the only thing nearby, which happens to be Warren's leather clad arm, thankfully flame free as they went out mere seconds ago. He looks on in shock at me, but upon spotting that I'm about to fall off the alarmingly high table, he grabs my arm currently not clinging to him for dear life and yanks me forward, towards him and into the safety of his arms. Grabbing a hold of his shirt, I close my eyes, not wanting to see how high we are anymore. The thought alone making me sick with fear. Warren wraps an arm around me, with the other outstretched to keep balance on the shaking table.

"Will, no!" I hear Layla shout randomly, but it's too late, for I'm suddenly lifted higher and the table below my feet completely disappears. Before I know it, I'm flying through the air at alarming speeds with the only thing to ground myself being Warren's solid body. I scream after opening my eyes for a second only to close them again right after seeing the lower part of the cafeteria ceiling no further than a meter away and enclosing rapidly. I brace for the impact, taking small comfort in the second arm that wraps around me and slightly maneuvers me so that I'm not going for a head on collision with it. I may be a Super, but I don't have invulnerability like my dad. A knock like that may very well have paralyzed me, or worse.

Unfortunately, the small amount of movement doesn't stop me from colliding with the ceiling and my head and back from receiving a rather large hit. But at least it didn't kill me like it possibly could have. For that I am thankful. Before long, I'm no longer flying, but falling through the air as we descend upon the ground. Deciding not to open my eyes this time, I have no warning before I'm landing on something firm and warm. It takes me a few seconds in my pain and fear clouded mind to register that I've landed on top of a body and even longer to remember just who's it is.

Groaning, I clutch my head, refusing to move any other part of my body. As I open my eyes, I'm greeted by a black shirt and leather jacket. Slowly looking up, I'm met with concerned brown eyes and a handsome frown. Even in this state, I can't help but admire everything jaw droppingly gorgeous about Warren Peace. It's pathetic, I know, but it won't stop. Our moment is soon over because, Will, upon realising what he just did, runs over to check if I am okay. Needless to say, Warren didn't take it so well. After helping me up, Warren starts yelling at Will again, but this time not for the same reason.

"Is this how you treat your sister, Stronghold? It's no wonder she wants to be friends with me when she has a brother like you. Not if this is how she's treated at home." His tone holds disgust. Several audible gasps are heard around us, but all I can focus on is Warren's hand on my back and the warm, fuzzy feeling it brings me. That and the splitting headache I currently have from that collision with the ceiling.

"What? No, I don't..." Something must have entered his mind then for he stops talking and a cringe spreads across his face. But then it changes and before I can register what is going on, he's yelling at us. "Wait. You know him, Jamie?! That's Barron Battle's son! Get away from him!" I feel Warren's hand on my back heat up, but not to a burning extent as he pulls me closer, bringing his arm around my waist.

"I've heard enough. You're not worth my time, Stronghold." Warren growls with a sneer, turning around and walking away, leading me along with him. Confused, I follow along without complaint, unsure of what just happened. All I know is that my head is killing me at the moment and the rest of my body isn't faring so well either. Not even Warren's hand on my waist is enough now to distract me from the pain. Now, normally I would have stood up for Will back there, but as it was he had just thrown me across the cafeteria where I had knocked my head pretty badly and possibly gained a concussion... also, hello! Major eye candy practically holding me in his arms at the moment! So please forgive me if I'm being a little out of the ordinary at the moment.

As we walk by, the crowd parts before us and watches on as Warren leads me out of the cafeteria, down the hallway and towards a door that reads the words 'Nurse's Office' with a red cross in a blue circle. Without bothering to knock, Warren shoves open the door, surprising an elderly lady and walking me forward a little more to guide me onto a bed.

"Mr. Peace, what are you doing here?" She asks in a worried tone, looking back and forth between him and I.

"Obviously, I'm here because Jamie needs your attention." Warren says, leaning against a table and crossing his arms. Frowning, the lady walks over to me and moves my ungloved hand away from my head to inspect it and in my sluggish mind I'm just able to register that she thankfully is wearing gloves herself. Don't want to go taking away the powers of the person trying to help me now, do I?

"What happened?" I close my eyes and wince at the small amount of pressure the nurse places on my head where it hurts the most.

"Her brother tossed her across the cafeteria." I can hear the anger in his voice and the sharp intake of breath that the nurse does upon hearing this.

"Twin." I say without really thinking since my thoughts are a little muddled up at the moment. I hear a small noise that sounds a little like a scoff from Warren's direction, but I can't exactly tell for sure as there's also a strange noise I can hear accompanied by an odd feeling in my head.

"As I thought. You have a concussion, deary." She confirms my suspicions and I groan in complaint, bringing my hand back up to my head where it hurts the most, "Thankfully it's not severe. Just don't fall asleep for the next few hours, and make sure someone wakes you up every two hours to make sure your reflexes are going back to normal." I go to nod, but after moving my head a little and realising it hurt too much to do so, I just sat still until someone knocks on the door. I hear someone open the door and a hushed conversation that I can't make out before the nurse speaks up once more.

"Mr. Peace, could you please look after Miss. Stronghold while I go take care of this?" She asks, but I don't hear a response as she leaves and closes the door.

Slowly, I lean back until I come into contact with a wall and rest against it. Opening my eyes, I'm greeted with an irritatingly bright light that makes me squint to block it out a little. I'm starting to relax a little, until a deep voice interrupts it. "No falling asleep." I look around the room to see that Warren is standing up and walking over to me.

"Ah... right!" I sit up straighter, but wince upon stretching injured muscles and moving my head too quickly. My sudden movement makes me so dizzy, I almost fall off the bed if is isn't for Warren's fast reflexes reaching out to steady my shoulders. Making sure that I'm able to sit upright by myself, he takes a seat next to me on the bed.

"I can't believe Stronghold treats you like that." Warren says in an angry voice and I somehow realise that he's unnervingly close to me. It takes me a few seconds to register what Warren said, but when I do, I feel like shit for not defending my brother before.

"He doesn't usually. I don't think... he knew I was on there... until it was too late," I'm slightly surprised that I can fully say that, even if it is a little bit staggered with a few breaks in between. Warren doesn't say anything so I start to stumble out a few sentences, desperate for a reaction, "We usually have eachothers back. I kept his secret from Dad... and he defends me whenever Dad gets angry with me... for slipping up with my powers." The silence nearly kills me as I continue rambling, spilling my troubles to him just hoping for a reaction. Any reaction.

"Dad hates my powers. He tries to avoid me whenever possible, scared I might render him powerless by accident. Not that I blame him. He favors Will, even now that he knows Will doesn't have super-strength... Well I guess he does now..." That thought bugs me for some reason, but I'm unable to register why at the moment, so I continue on, "I'll probably get the whole, 'be careful around Will with your powers' speech again. It's so stupid that I can't even take these stupid things off at home!" I end up yelling, tears in my eyes as I throw the stupid glove that I'm still holding in my left hand, at the wall opposite us, in frustration. I just sit there quietly. Slightly panting and trying to hold back the tears that threaten to fall any second now.

"You done now?" Warren asks and I just stare down at my hands, one still gloved and the other one shining a little where my ring is, and nod. He sighs in, what seems like frustration, "It seems to me that you have some serious daddy issues, Princess." I can't help bursting out in laughter at the irony of the situation.

"Look who's talking." It's only after I finish speaking that I realise what I just said. My eyes open wide and I slap my hand over my mouth. I'm about to apologise when he lets out a low chuckle, surprising me.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," He admits, leaning back against the wall like I was mere minutes ago, "Looks like we're both a couple of messed up teens with daddy issues." I look over to him and smile.

"Does this mean you don't hate me anymore? That I can actually go back to the Paper Lantern when you have a shift?" I ask, my speech gradually improving.

He smirks and turns his body towards me. "I don't know. How badly do you want it, Princess?" My heart stutters a little at the use of my nickname as I look into his eyes. I watch in wonder as his hand reaches forward and grabs my chin lightly, and although I can feel the leather that covers most of his hand, when his fingers brush lightly against my skin, I can't help it as my breath catches in my throat. My thoughts leave me with only the realisation of his close proximity and his heat radiating over me.

"So badly." I whisper, completely lost in his eyes. He leans in closer to me, until his face is so close that I can feel his breath on my quivering lips, and I watch as his dark brown eyes quickly lower to glance at them. Biting my lower lip, I can see his eyes cloud over a little as he uses his grip on my chin to bring my face closer to his. He looks back up into my eyes and I'm not entirely sure what he sees in them, but he doesn't pull away.

Even though I have no idea what's going on right now, I can't help but lower my gaze down to his own full lips and watch in fascination as he runs his tongue over them. I can feel my face heat up as I worry my bottom lip, wanting so desperately to lean over a little more and close the gap between us. Are we about to kiss? Looking back up, I see that his own eyes are downcast again and I can feel the hand on my chin lightly move along my jaw, to cup my face.

Hoping I'm reading the situation correctly and I don't just have something on my lip, I move my hand closer to his. My fingers brush against his and the sudden influx of familiar knowledge causes me to flinch back. Stupidly, I had just brought my exposed hand over to his and touched the only part of his hand not covered in leather.

Suddenly, my eyes open wide in realisation. Here I sit, next to Warren Peace, the man who hates my dad to the core and dislikes my twin brother so much that they only just got out of a fight... yet still, he treats me nicely, and I'm stealing all of his powers away from him in a single touch. I pull back my hand as if stung and manage to stutter out, "I. I'm sorry!" with my face still in his surprisingly gentle grip.

My hand stays in the air, unsure of where to go as I stare openly at his face that now shows mild annoyance at what I've done. At least, that's what I think, until he reaches out his free hand and grabs mine from mid air, confusing me and leaving a slight flutter in my chest.

"Shut up." Warren whispers in a deep, husky voice, using our entwined hands and the one on my jaw to pull me forward the rest of the way, crashing our lips together. A fire ignites within my chest and my mind goes blank as Warren's lips devour mine. Sucking, licking, grazing, biting and just doing whatever he likes to them as I try my best to not just sit there limp.

My eyes flutter closed after watching his do the same. The hand on my jaw moves to the back of my neck, pulling me closer than I thought possible as the scent of firewood and spices fill my senses. I move my free hand up to grab a fist full of Warren's shirt because I need something to desperately hold onto since Warren keeps on stealing my breath away, making me dizzier with every kiss. The way he holds me, like he doesn't want me to pull away make the moment even more intense and to be honest, I don't want to pull away either. This is my first kiss and I want to enjoy it for as long as possible, because I have no idea how Warren is going to react once we pull apart.

Eventually, after an unknown period of time, we pull away. But not by choice, I quickly discover, when my mind clears enough to notice Warren glaring behind me, even if he is slightly panting. I blush upon seeing his flushed state and swollen lips as a result of our previous activities and I secretly hope I kind of look the same. Turning around, I am greeted with the furious eyes of my brother, Will. I gulp, knowing that look means no good.

"What do you think you're doing with my little sister, Peace?!" Will demands, shoving me behind him almost making me fall over.

"It's called kissing, Stronghold, and it's none of your business." Warren continues to glare at Will as he stands up and walks over to Will, towering over him. I can't help the blush that spreads across my face at his confirmation of our activities. This means he actually meant to kiss me... I hope.

"It is my business what you do with my little sister just to get to me." Warren and I both stop and stare at William, in shock at his words. I turn my gaze to Warren and stare at him, begging it to not be true. He see's and his eyes soften slightly before rounding on my brother again.

"What makes you think that everything revolves around you, Stronghold? Unlike my feelings toward you, I actually like Jamie. She's more down to earth than you and your damn father you worship." He argues, making me blush. Warren 'likes' me? That thought makes it harder to focus for a moment, but I watch on as Warren goes to power up, when all that can be heard is the rattling of the chains on his pants. Will flinches at first, but then laughs upon realising what happened.

"That's what you get for kissing my sister." Will chuckles and, although I know he doesn't mean anything by it, his words still hurt me.

I think Warren notices, because he changes his cause of action. Smirking, he says, "It was worth it." His statement has Will stumbling for words and me embarrassed like crazy as I look into his eyes.

Will seems to decide now that a more direct route is a better choice, as he clenches his hand into a fist and goes to punch Warren square in the face. My fear for Warren's safety now that he doesn't have his powers, including the invulnerability that goes along with it, make me react quickly and I do the only thing I can think of in time since I can't grab Will's hand and stop him myself without a huge risk of missing. I release the built up power in my hands in a pulse, not really caring how much power I put behind it at the moment, and watch as it hits Will a fraction before he makes contact with the startled Warren.

It works and Will's hit barely makes an impact. All three of us just stand there in shock for a moment, not fully comprehending what just occurred. Silence reigns around us for a moment until a loud shriek can be heard coming from nearby. Then suddenly, more and more yells find their way to their ears snapping Warren and me out of it while Will still stares at his fist in shock.

"Thanks." Warren says, stepping around Will's frozen body and towards me where I stand, still shaken up by the fact that Will could do that. He could have possibly killed Warren since he doesn't know his own strength yet, judging from the office door that's almost ripped in half. Before Warren can do or say anything more, someone clears their throat behind me. Quickly turning around, I almost lose my balance and land on the floor if not for Warren's hands on my arms, steadying me yet again. There, standing in the destroyed doorway is Principal Powers. A disapproving look on her face. I glance up at Warren, over my shoulder and gulp. We're in trouble now.

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 **A/N:** This chapter has been edited by my lovely Beta, av23~


	8. The Consequence

**A/N:** Hello, all. I'm going to be focusing on my oneshot for now, to get it out of the way, so there won't be a chapter update for a few days. On the bright side, there will be a oneshot up soon with Warren and another OC of mine. I hope you will all like it.

Well enjoy this chapter for now. :)

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 **Chapter Seven -** The Consequence

The three of us are lead down the corridor by Principal Powers. Warren in front, with me by his side. His arm around my waist to stop me from randomly falling over in my dizzy state. Will behind us, a strange look on his face, like he isn't quite so sure if he should be pissed off or scared. It made me worry for him. We are stopped at a simple white, metal door and are ushered in once it slides open. Warren helps me to a seat before promptly standing up straight to glare at Will as he walks in.

"What the hell were you thinking, Stronghold? You could have killed me if Jamie didn't stop you!" Warren shouts, making Will flinch at his words as they truly register with him. His eyes open wide and he stares at his hands disturbed. "Is this what the great Will Stronghold does in his spare time? Go around punching people he doesn't like? What a great way to become a Hero. That is if you even want to be one."

"Mr. Peace, that's quite enough. Sit down," Principal Powers commands. Warren glares once more at Will before taking the seat to my right, "Here at Sky High, we do everything we can to teach you how to use your powers. But what you do with them, now that's up to you. Living up to your father's reputation or trying to live it down is a sad waste of talent. Your talent. Try to keep that in mind the next time you're about to do something stupid. And, Jamie," I look up at her at hearing my name, "Try not to get caught up in other people's drama. I'm sure you have plenty of your own already." I stare at her in shock, not quite believing her words.

"Not to... No one else was doing a thing to stop them! If I hadn't, who would have? Everyone else was too scared or entertained to do anything about it!" I yell at her, too overwhelmed with emotions to hold myself back.

"That's enough, Miss. Stronghold." She demands, but I don't listen. Far too lost in my rage to stop.

"No! In a school that prides itself on the safety of its students, you sure as hell don't seem to be doing enough to keep them safe on the inside. I mean, come on! A room full of Super kids and there's only one staff member looking out for them and it's a Sidekick? Really?! People could have been seriously hurt!" As I say this, I go to stand up, but my equilibrium doesn't respond in time and before I know it, I'm crashing to the floor. The sound of scraping chairs and I'm suddenly being picked up by warm, strong arms. A sigh can be heard and a woman utters a few words that I can't make out before I see her heeled shoes walking out of the room.

A few more muffled words from a much closer distance and I'm being picked up slightly and moved upright, leaning against something solid and moving. More mumbles finally turn into words I can understand.

Or, more like one word I can understand, "Jamie." My name. I'm coherent enough to distinguish that fact at least. Looking up, I see a beautifully angled face, chiseled jaw, plump lips, strong nose and cheeks, then finally, perfectly shaded brown eyes that stare down into mine. Dark brown hair covering us in a kind of veil.

"Hey, handsome." I say with a giddy smile. Warren raises an eyebrow at this, but doesn't comment further. A choking noise can be heard to my right, but I ignore it. All I can really focus on are those amazing lips that were kissing me only a little while ago and how I desperately want them to do so once more. But my brother has other ideas it seems, as he raises his voice loud enough for my fogged up mind to register.

"Get away from her, Peace!" He manages to say while holding out his hands that I realise are for me to take.

"Get over yourself, Stronghold." Warren says, not bothering to look up.

"Can't you two be quiet for once? My head is killing me." I groan, closing my eyes once more. I feel, more than hear, a low chuckle originate from Warren before all goes quiet once more.

We wait there for quite a while, with Warren randomly shaking me to make sure I haven't fallen asleep, until the door once more opens to reveal Principal Powers standing in the doorway looking down at us. Apparently, while I had my eyes closed, Will had moved over to sit on my other side on the floor with us. She clears her throat to gain our attention before telling us that we can finally go home.

Once we are finally allowed out of the horrid, too brightly lit, detention room, Will grabs me by my gloved hand, helping me up from Warren's amazingly warm and comfortable lap, and drags me towards the awaiting yellow flying machine. I don't say anything and just follow, knowing it's best if I just let Will deal with his own conflicting emotions himself since there's no Layla nearby.

Honestly, I'm just glad for a small reprieve from my headache. As we pass by the bus driver, a small part of me realises that, for once, it isn't Ron Wilson. I figure it must be because this is the late bus. For once I don't scream on the way home. My head too filled with worry for Will and tantalising memories of my first kiss to focus on my aversion to heights. Will and I step off the bus in silence and walk home together.

Our silence only broken as Will opens the front door, abruptly ripping it from its hinges. Apparently Will's powers have come back to him and I cringe a little at the sheer amount of it. Carefully he places it back once I walk past him, albeit the wrong way around, and he turns to spot our parents standing in the hallway, hands on hips, looking disappointed at us.

"So, Will, Jamie, anything interesting happen at school today?" Mom asks and I can tell that they already know. I look down in shame at my feet while Will puts on a large smile, either not realising that they already know, or simply far too happy to really care right now.

"Uh... Well, as you may have noticed, I got my powers today!" Will declares happily, lifting up an unimpressed Mom to demonstrate. I can see the proud look in Dad's eyes and know he isn't angry at Will at all. Just me. Like always.

"Yes, we know. Your Principal called." He carefully places her down upon hearing this and looks to Dad for support. I have no idea if he gets it or not, but he continues on either way.

"Okay. Look, it's not... it's not as bad as it sounds. It's actually a really funny, great story." Will tries to defend, but Mom's hearing none of it. Dad on the other hand looks like he's seriously trying to hold himself back from asking questions and pulling his son into a proud hug not surprising me at all.

"You nearly destroyed the school cafeteria." Not wanting to watch anymore of this, I slowly start to edge off to the side in order to escape this for now.

"Yeah, but Mom, I got my powers!" Honestly, I don't think Will really sees the problem here since he's so glad to finally have his powers and a little part of me is glad too, although I still feel like I'm forgetting something.

"And do you know how to use them wisely?" That got him and I watch on as he deflates. A few more steps and I'll be at the stairs and running towards one of my sanctums. But Dad spots me just as I reach them.

"Not so fast, missy. Don't think that you're getting out of this scott free as well." I sigh and slump my shoulders in defeat, wanting nothing more than to just sit down. The concussion catching up to me, now that I'm finally home. I hoist my bag up higher on my shoulder before turning around and walking back to the front of the house.

"Letting your powers loose like that on the school? Do you have any idea what kind of damage you caused?" I look up in shock at him. Damage? When did I cause damage? "Because of you, over half the school had their powers drained."

Silence fills the room and I just stare at Dad. That's it? So after three whole days of ignoring me, the first words he speaks to me are those of brandishment. For what? Taking away some kids powers for half an hour at most in order to save Warren's life? From his own son at that. It's like the only way he knows how to communicate with me nowadays, is to yell at me in disappointment.

"You're kidding me. Right?" I ask in disbelief, but he doesn't stop. Oh no. Why would he stop when his precious son is in doubt.

"Kidding? You think I'm kidding about the fact that I warned you not to use your powers like this and you went against my word, unleashing more power than you ever have before. Over half the school, Jamie!" By the end of it, he's yelling and I flinch back. The loud noise bring back my headache in full force.

"I don't care! I did it to save Warren. He would have died if I didn't do anything. Not that you would care." The rage I had at the start of my rant dies off into a mere whisper as I start to choke and try to hold back my tears. I don't need this. With that thought, I run. Stumbling up the stairs, I somehow manage to make it to my bedroom, and collapse in a sobbing mess on the floor.

I hear the phone ring downstairs and Mom answering it, so I figure that Dad has probably taken Will somewhere by himself to secretly congratulate him away from Mom's prying eyes and ears. The Secret Sanctum, most likely. Pretty soon, I notice her footsteps heading up the stairs, so I'm not surprised when she gently knocks on my door and walks in with her hand over the phone's speaker.

She frowns upon seeing me on the floor and proceeds to pick me up off of there and lead me to my bed, "Honey, your friend Luci is on the phone for you. Do you want to speak to her?" She asks softly and I slowly nod my head, my tears subsiding for the moment, "I'll be back in an hour to talk to you." Mom says before handing me the phone and quietly leaving my room, closing the door on her way out.

"Luci?" I quietly ask, my voice shaking a little.

"Oh my god, Jamie! Are you alright?" I hear her frantically ask over the line. Her worry bringing a slight smile to my lips.

"Define 'alright'." My joke isn't received lightly as Luci begins to take on her bizarre 'mother hen' tendencies.

"Oh honey. What happened?" She asks in a calm voice, calming me down a little.

"Do you want the good news or the bad news first?" I decide to give her the choice of how this conversation pans out.

"There's good news?" She perks up, making me laugh.

"Yep. Great, in fact." I say with a silly grin on my face upon remembering Warren's soft lips on mine, his heat passing over me, raising the temperature of my body even more.

"Okay then, bad news. That way we can get past the thing that's hurting you the most, right now, then end on a good note with whatever it is that's so great that I'm dying to find out about." I silently agree with her and start the shaky tale of Will and Dad's treatment of me. To be honest, it's quite hard explaining Will's part in it all without giving away the good news, but thankfully the fact that Luci saw the cafeteria fight along with Will's eventual storming out of the room, helps things along a lot. By the end of it I manage to cry my eyes out so much that I believe they have now dried out.

When the conversation finally turns to a lighter note, or as Luci put it, 'steamy', I can't stop my racing heart and the random giggles that erupted from me sporadically. Even though I can't see her, I just know that her devilish mind is already thinking up some evil plan to shove Warren and I into awkward situations and, in a way, I kind of look forward to them. Finally, after well over an hour, my mom knocks at my door, signalling the end of our phone call. Hanging up, I greet Mom with a smile and hand her back the phone.

"I see you're in a better mood now." She comments, walking up to my bed. I move my legs up to my chest to give her some room before she sits down by my feet.

"Yeah, Luci really helped." I admit, smiling lightly until Mom lets out a sigh, gaining my full attention.

"Now, Jamie, about today," Mom starts and I already know I'm not going to like this conversation, "Your father and I received a phone call from your Principal and needless to say, it wasn't pleasant. She informed us that you and Will go into a fight with Mr. Peace in the cafeteria and then again in the Nurse's office. What on earth happened today?" She asks with a frown and I'm glad that she is actually giving me a chance to explain instead of just punishing me, like Dad would have.

"It wasn't really any of our fault at first. Will fell over and managed to spill his tray of food all over Warren, who didn't take it too kindly. They kind of ended up fighting in the cafeteria and no one was doing anything to stop it. I tried calling out a few times, but it didn't seem to work for long, so when Warren cornered Will, I took off my glove and stood up on the table to stop Warren, since Will didn't have his powers at this point."

"On the table?" Mom asks, confused. I laugh, having a vague idea of what could possibly be running through her mind right now.

"Warren was on top of the table and Will was beneath, hiding from him, sort of. Just as I stepped onto the table, it started shaking. Apparently, that's the moment he received his powers, because he lifted up the table with Warren and I both on it. I almost fell off, and would have, if it wasn't for Warren quickly grabbing me and pulling me to him," Mom smiled as she saw my face darken with a blush, "I don't think Will knew I was on there, 'cuz he kinda, maybe... threw the table."

A sudden gasp is heard from my mom and I stay still as she starts to inspect me for any visible injuries. "I have a concussion, Mom. It's why I was in the Nurse's office. Warren walked me there once he saw that I was in pain. He kinda yelled at Will before, then left with me. Soon after, Will walked in on us in the Nurse's office. I don't think he could quite grasp the fact that he injured me just after receiving his powers and there was Warren, the guy he just got in a fight with, taking care of me. Warren and him said a few things and it kinda turned ugly. Will went to go punch Warren without realising that Warren wasn't invulnerable anymore, so I reacted without thinking, releasing a power-out wave before Will could make contact with Warren. Apparently, I used more power than I thought because soon after there were people screaming just down the hallway and it quickly spread throughout the building. That's when Principal Powers found us." I deflate, glad to finally have it all out... well, all but the parts with just Warren and I. But I don't really feel like admitting that to Mom just yet.

Mom stays silent for a moment, probably mulling everything over in her head. Eventually, when she does speak, it's not to admonish me as I first thought. Instead, she wraps me up in a hug. "I'm proud of you, honey. What you did today took strength, bravery and loyalty." I look up at her with tears in my eyes. So much for crying myself dry.

"Thanks, Mom." I whisper, leaning into her hug.

"Anytime. Is there anything else you want to talk to me about?" Mom asks, as though she can tell I'm hiding something back from her, but I shake my head and smile, "Very well. I'd best be going to make sure your father isn't joking around with Will instead of talking to him to find out what happened. I know for a fact that he won't be playing that new X-box he rushed out to buy Will upon hearing he gained his powers if I have anything to say about it," She sends me a wink before standing up to leave, "Oh and Jamie, I'll be checking in on you every two hours to make sure this concussion of yours doesn't get worse so don't worry if you fall asleep." Mom says seriously making me smile, glad that she cares so much for me to miss out on her own sleep.

Only half an hour or so after Mom leaves my room, I'm finally feeling relaxed and feel like I can sleep, when I hear a solid knock on my door that almost sends it flying. A small curse from Will and I know he's the one outside my door.

"Ah... Jamie?" He hesitantly asks, unsure of himself.

"Yeah?" I relent, realising that apparently everyone is going to want to talk to me tonight when all I want to do is sleep.

"Can we talk?" He asks, poking his head through the small opening of the door he makes once opening it. I let out a sigh and he takes it as a signal to come in, "It's about what happened before," He quietly admits to me, expecting me to say something, but when I give him the silent treatment I'm famous for, he decides to continue, "Im sorry for barging in on you like that and pulling you away," Will's tone makes me think for a second that he's actually getting over this stupid issue he has with Warren, but it's proven wrong at his next words, "But, come on, it's Warren Peace for crying out loud!" He practically shouts. I clamp my hand over his mouth to quiet him, not wanting Dad coming in here to find out I've been making out with a famous Supervillain's son, when a sudden influx of information hits me.

Super strength. Able to benchpress a two-story house with only slight difficulty. Invulnerable to most injuries and illnesses due to tough skin. Minor thermoresistance. I gasp and flinch back at the same time Will does. It's only now that I realise I left my right hand glove in the Nurse's office from when I threw it earlier on today. In less than one day, I have already managed to take away my brother's newly received powers. For some reason those words ring in my head and I wonder why, until I suddenly remember the thing that has been weighing me down all these years.

"I didn't do it." I whisper to myself, not able to truly believe it, even as I say it out loud.

"What?" Will questions me surprisingly moving in close to me in order to hear better.

"I... It wasn't me. Will, it wasn't me! I didn't steal your powers!" I scream into his ear, a huge grin spreading across my face. He cringes back from me, but I don't let him get too far before I'm practically on top of him, clinging tightly to his form.

"All this time, I thought... and it wasn't my fault." I'm whispering again and I think Will is grateful for that even though he's still completely confused at my words and actions. He pats me awkwardly on the back, but I don't care, too relieved to do so, for all the pressure and guilt that I carried around with me all these years is melting away every second that I cling to my twin, feeling his powers for the first time ever. I thought this moment would never come. It takes some time, but eventually Will manages to decipher my ramblings and hugs me in earnest.

"It was never you, Jamie," Will whispers while gently rubbing my back, letting me relax fully. I don't know how long we stay like this, but eventually Will whispers back to me again,"Sorry," Upon sensing my confusion at his words, he continues, "I really am sorry for pulling you away from him before." He explains and it's now that I realise he wants to continue on with the reason he's here in my room in the first place.

Releasing Will, I let him sit up so I can place my head on his lap, "I know you mean well Will, but I like Warren. He's nice to me," When he's not being bipolar, I think quietly to myself, "And for the first time ever, I think I may actually have a boyfriend." I'll find out tomorrow when Luci, no doubt, makes me confront him.

"The guy hates me." Will sighs.

"Well you haven't really given him a reason not to. Just give him a chance, Will. Please?" I beg.

"Fine. One chance." He concedes and I grin up at him.

"Thank you." I whisper once more before closing my eyes and just enjoying this moment of peace with my twin, reminding me why I love being the younger, if only by an hour, sibling.

* * *

 **A/N:** Honestly, without av23 as my Beta, you would probably be reading a load of spelling mistakes and grammatical errors. Thank you again, luv~


	9. Oneshot news!

Unfortunately just an update. I just posted the Oneshot between Warren and another OC! Feel free to read it whenever you want. This story will be updated when I get the time away from College.


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